Harry Potter and the Coming War
by Gryffindor777
Summary: Complete! Harry and company's full Sixth Year. Attempts to be realistic to canon. Has dueling, deception, action, some humor, and some romance. Pairings hg rhr. Please r &r.
1. Birthday Gifts

Chapter 1  
  
Birthday Gifts  
  
Today was Harry's 16th birthday, and for the first time this summer, he was actually having a pleasant day. He had woken up at 7:00 AM to the sound of an owl pounding on his window, trying to get in. Under most circumstances, being awoken at 7:00 during the summer would have been cause for being extremely annoyed, but as he recognized the owl at once as Pigwidgeon, Harry was all too pleased to roll out of bed and open the window.  
  
Pigwidgeon was carrying a small package, and a letter. Once he was relieved of these things, he immediately began flying around the room in a very loud way. Harry caught him and shoved him in Hedwig's cage (Hedwig had been out for the past couple of days) so that he wouldn't wake the Dursleys. So far this summer, the Dursleys had been being cautious around Harry, no doubt remembering the warning from the members of the Order of the Phoenix. However, Harry still didn't want to press his luck by annoying Uncle Vernon unduly.  
  
Before he had a chance to open the letter from Ron, Hedwig swooped into the still open window with another package as well as a note. And just as he was untying the package from Hedwig, Percy's owl Hermes swooped in the window, also carrying a note and a small package. Harry reflected with some humor that it was a good thing Uncle Vernon wasn't aware of how many owls were currently in his house. He'd have a fit Harry thought, laughing slightly as he imagined just what shade of purple his uncle might turn if he caught wind of this. Harry got up and locked his door, just to make sure that Uncle Vernon wouldn't walk in on this scene. Not that it was likely, as Uncle Vernon had been keeping his distance from Harry so far this summer, but best not to take chances.  
  
Just because he was curious to see what Percy could have to say to him, Harry opened his letter first. He read:  
  
Young Harry,  
  
I wish to extend my sincerest apologies at having doubted your story about the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I hear from Ron that you saw the letter that I sent him last year about keeping his distance from you. I must say that I am terribly sorry, and not just a little bit embarrassed by this, but I trust that you'll see that I was only trying to give my brother what seemed like sound advice at the time. However, it has now become apparent that it was we at the ministry who were mistaken about the events of last summer.   
  
Cornelius Fudge has also realized the error of his ways, and wishes me to convey his apologies as well (he would write to you himself, but is, at the time, quite busy, as you can well imagine) and would like you to know that the ministry has lifted your life-time ban on playing Quidditch.   
  
Thanks for taking the time to read this letter, and I can only hope that you will accept my humble apologies. From now on, I assure you that both I and the other members of the Ministry will be much quicker to believe you.  
  
Sincerely,  
  
Percy Weasely  
  
Well, it was good to know that Percy wasn't too proud to admit that he had been wrong. Of course, it would have been pretty hard for him to continue in his belief that Harry was insane now that it had been proven that Voldemort was coming back after all. Still, it had taken some guts for Percy to actually write the letter. It was also good to see that he was allowed to play Quidditch again. Although Harry had suspected that his ban would be repealed, it was good to see it in writing. Harry opened the package that had accompanied Percy's letter and found that it contained some Bert's Every Flavor Bean. Before opening his next letter, Harry reached into the bag and grabbed a few. He ate a few that looked as if they'd be tasty, and then set a nasty-looking greenish yellow one aside, deciding that he'd give it to Dudley later.   
  
Next, Harry opened the letter that Hedwig had brought in. It was from Hermione and read as follows:  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
Happy Birthday! I hope the muggles have been treating you well, and I hope that the Weasleys are able to take you to their house soon. I'm sure they will send you an invitation just as soon as Dumbledore allows it, but he must still feel that you're safest at your Aunt's house. By the way, our O.W.L. results should be coming any time now, we should be getting them by the end of the month. I hope we both did well, and I hope that you enjoy your gift. I figure it should help you figure out other options for a career, in case you need another option than being an auror. Not that I'm not confident you can be one, it's just always good to have a fallback career.   
  
Sincerely,  
  
Hermione Granger   
  
Well, it was good to hear from Hermione, even if she did have to bring up the O.W.L.s in every single one of the letters that she had written him so far this summer. He would be so surprised if she didn't pass every one of the exams that she took that he'd probably have a heart attack.   
  
He opened up the package from Hermione and was not surprised at all to see that it contained a book. It was entitled "Career Options for the Young Wizard." Harry agreed that it would probably be quite a helpful book. He didn't expect to actually qualify to become an Auror, because he was pretty sure that his Potions score wouldn't be "Outstanding" as it had to be for an admittance into Snape's N.E.W.T. class.   
  
Still, this was not the type of thing that Harry wanted to be thinking about over his summer break, and he opened Ron's letter, hoping that he would be thinking more along the lines that Harry wanted to be thinking.  
  
Hullo Harry,  
  
Happy Birthday! I've got great news. Dumbledore has agreed to let you and Hermione come to spend the rest of the summer at the Burrow. Even though there's not the same ancient magic guarding you here as at your aunt's house, but Remus Lupin has agreed to come along to help guard us and everything. He'll stay in Fred and George's old room. They won't be needing it, as they're now living on Diagon Alley. By the way, Mum isn't as mad about them opening the joke shop as we thought she would be. Probably she didn't want to have another row like she had with Percy. By the way, Percy's apologized and is now living with us again, and says that he'll send you a letter to apologize to you. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Hermes were there right now, he's always been a bit faster than Pigwidgeon, and so might have outpaced her. Anyway, my Dad and I are going to come to pick you up tonight at 7:00 by Floo Powder, so be prepared. It might not be a bad idea to warn your Uncle as well, although maybe it'd be more fun if he wasn't expecting it… Well, it's up to you. Oh, by the way, O.W.L. results are going to be coming soon, which is another reason why I'm glad you're coming over tonight. Maybe with you here my parents won't yell as loudly when they find out my scores!  
  
Sincerely,  
  
Ronald Weasely  
  
Harry opened the package then too, although he felt that no matter what it was, it wouldn't be nearly as good of a birthday gift as the fact that he would be able to go back to the Burrow tonight. The gift proved to be merchandise from Weasely Wizard Wheezes. It was fireworks of the type that had been used to vex Umbridge earlier that year. Harry felt that if it wasn't for the fact that it'd violate every Muggle Secrecy law on the books, he'd set them off then and there in celebration of the fact that in just 12 hours he'd be at the Burrow with Ron, Hermione, and Remus Lupin.   
  
Harry opted to tell his uncle about the fact that he would be picked up at 7:00 at the fireplace. After all, he figured it would be a good idea to keep on as good relationships as possible with the Dursleys, as he knew he would have to spend the next summer with them as well. His Uncle didn't seem particularly happy about the arrangement, but still could not hide his gratitude that Harry would be gone for the rest of the summer. Still, Harry was glad that even if he had wanted to, Uncle Dursley knew there was nothing he could do to stop the plan from going into action.  
  
The rest of Harry's day was spent in eager anticipation of living in the bureau for the next month. However, it seemed that depression from the recent death of his godfather was ready to sneak in at any moment. For much of the summer, Harry had been feeling extremely depressed. He tried to keep himself busy by reading his books about Defense Against the Dark Arts, and reading every edition of the Daily Prophet, but nothing seemed able to keep his mind fully off Sirius. Harry could only hope that life at the Burrow would offer enough distractions to keep his mind off Sirius for the rest of the summer.  
  
When 7:00 came, Harry was sitting in front of the fireplace waiting for the Weasleys. He was quite glad that they were prompt. Ron and Mr. Weasley offered him quick greetings but seemed to appreciate that the sooner Harry got out of his uncle's house, the better it would be for all of them. So by 7:02, Harry was back in the Burrow. 


	2. Once again to the Burrow

Chapter 2  
  
Once More at the Burrow  
  
  
  
Harry stepped out of the Burrow to be greeted immediately by Hermione. "It's so good to see you again," said Hermione after she released him from a tight hug. "I just got here a couple minutes ago, Mrs. Weasley and Ginny came to pick me up." She gestured at Ginny and Mrs. Weasley, who were standing a couple steps away. Then Ron came through the fireplace and he too received his warm greeting from Hermione.  
  
Harry stepped over toward Mrs. Weasley and Ginny. "Welcome back to the Burrow," said Mrs. Weasley happily. "We would have let you come sooner, but Dumbeldore just now gave permission for you to come."  
  
"Well," said Harry, grinning, "I'm just glad he's let me come now."   
  
Then, Ginny said, "So, Percy tells us your Quidditch ban has been lifted?"  
  
"Yes, so I've heard," said Harry.  
  
"That's awesome," said Ron, who had just disentangled himself from Hermione, and was walking over. "Why don't we all go up to my room and we can talk about our shot at retaining the Quidditch cup for another year!"  
  
Harry, Ginny, and Ron headed up toward Ron's room, as did Hermione, even though she didn't usually have much to say about Quidditch.   
  
"Well, Harry, you'll have your old spot back, of course," said Ginny. "And I'll try out for Chaser, like we were talking about last year."  
  
"Yeah, but we'll still have 2 more Chaser spots to fill, and our Beaters still need to practice a lot," Ron added.  
  
"Yeah, I can't believe we're losing Bell, Johnson, and Spinnet!" said Harry with some anxiety.  
  
"Yeah, it'll be hard for you to find replacements for them," registered Ginny.  
  
"What do you mean it'll be hard for me to find replacements for them?" asked Harry.  
  
"Well, you'll be Captain of course," Ginny explained patiently. "Even without playing most of last year, you've still got more than 2 years more experience than anyone else on the team. Why, you've been in about as many games as all the rest of the members of the team combined!"  
  
Well, this was certainly something to think about. Going from not playing Quidditch for most of his fifth year to being almost a shoe-in for Captain for his Sixth year.  
  
"How're captains chosen anyway?" Harry asked.  
  
"They're picked by the Head of House," registered Hermione, after it became clear no one else knew the answer. "Honestly, are you ever going to read Hogwarts: a History, it mentions a few of the all time best Quidditch players at Hogwarts, and it also tells the procedure for Captains getting picked."  
  
"Well, I would have read it sooner if I knew it was about Quidditch," said Ron.  
  
"It's not about Quidditch, it just contains some references," said Hermione, obviously annoyed.  
  
"Well then, maybe I won't read it," replied Ron defiantly.  
  
"Anyway, McGonogall's bound to pick you, she's the one who put you on the team in the first place, and the only reason you didn't get picked last year is that most of the team had been playing for longer than you," said Ron.  
  
After that there was a moment's silence before it became quite clear that the subject of Quidditch had been, for the moment, exhausted.   
  
"So, how's everyone's summers been so far?" asked Hermione, trying to get the conversation rolling again.  
  
"Pretty good," said Ron, "it's a lot quieter here now that the twins are gone, and Mum's been in a better mood ever since Percy came back and apologized. He's too embarrassed with himself to move back in though. Suits me just fine it being just me and Ginny here though, except for the fact that without the twins, Mum's able to spend more time making sure that I'm behaving."  
  
"What about you Ginny?" asked Hermione.  
  
"Well, Dean's broke up with me," she said with a pointed glance at Harry that left him feeling a bit confused, "but that's no big deal. Other than that, everything's been just fine."  
  
Ron was now looking at Harry too, apparently because of what Ginny had said. Did he expect him to ask Ginny out on the spot? Harry started to wonder, however, whether he would ask Ginny out. It was quite clear that nothing was going to happen between Cho and him. And Ginny was looking a lot prettier than he remembered her looking last time he saw her. And she had proven herself brave last June in the Department of Mysteries. Harry shuddered at the thought of the Department of Mysteries and did his best to stop thinking about it. Beyond that though, there was something to be said about a girl who could play Quidditch. Still, Harry felt that it was a bit premature to go and ask her out right away, especially with Ron and Hermione still in the room. An awkward silence was beginning to fill the room, and Harry was quite relieved when the door to Ron's room burst open, revealing Remus Lupin.  
  
"Hello everybody," he said. "Hello Harry. I would have sent your birthday present to you this morning, but when I heard I'd be seeing you tonight, I decided I'd wait till now. This really works out the best anyway because now I'll be here to explain the gift to you. Well, here it is."   
  
Lupin handed Harry a small wrapped parcel. Harry opened it, and found that it contained 5 pieces of parchment. Harry looked questioningly at Lupin and realized that it really was a good thing that he was here to explain this.  
  
"Well, what is it?" asked Harry.  
  
"It should come in handy this school year in many ways. You see, if you write on one of these papers, what is written shows up on as many of the other papers as you want it to. For instance, if you're sitting through a particularly boring class, and each you and Ron were in possession of this paper, you could write notes to him without having to pass notes and risk getting caught."  
  
"Cool!" said Ron, and was met with a disapproving look from Hermione.  
  
"But, as Hermione will no doubt be glad to know, it has more practical uses as well. If you leave one of the pieces of parchment with me, then we'll always be able to keep each other updated with news without having to worry about whether our owls are going to get intercepted."  
  
"Cool!" said Hermione, and Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Lupin all smiled heartily.   
  
Lupin opened one of the pieces of parchment and pointed out 5 lines that were drawn across the top of the paper. "You put the names of each person who has a piece of paper here, and then when you want to send the message to a specific person, you simply tap their name or their names before writing the message. If you don't tap any of the names, the message will appear on all 4 of the other pieces of parchment. Well, here you are then," Lupin concluded, handing the pieces of parchment back to Harry.  
  
"Well, thanks," Harry said. "Here," he handed a piece over to Lupin. "You keep one too."  
  
"Good, this way we'll be able to keep in contact. So that I'll be able to fill out the other names at the top here, who else is going to be receiving one of these?" asked Lupin.  
  
"Well, everyone in this room," said Harry without hesitation. He passed out one piece of parchment to each of his three friends. Ginny looked somewhat flattered to be included in the group, and Harry was glad about that. He found that he liked to see Ginny happy. Yes, he would have to ask her out eventually…  
  
He ended up getting the chance sooner than he had anticipated. After dinner ended, Mrs. Weasley asked Ron to help clean up the dishes. Harry offered to help, but was told by Mrs. Weasley that it was unnecessary. At just that moment, Ginny popped into the room and says, "Harry, would you like to go for a walk with me?"  
  
"Uh. Sure," said Harry after he shot a quick glance at Ron, who nodded fervently.   
  
"So," said Harry, after they had left the Burrow and walked a good ten yards from the house, "this is nice."  
  
"Yeah," said Ginny, and she smiled. "So," she said, after a brief pause, "how're things between you and Cho? Are you still holding out hope that she'll tire of Michael Corner and come back to you?"   
  
She said it kindly enough, but it still seemed to Harry to be quite an odd topic to be discussing. Ginny seemed to be very interested with discussing relationships with Harry as of late. He tried to think of what Hermione would explain as being Ginny's motive for this. He wasn't really sure what Hermione would have said, but he decided to throw caution into the wind and:  
  
"So Ginny, would you like to- you know- go out with me?" asked Harry awkwardly.  
  
"Whatever could you mean, Harry? We're out now aren't we?" replied Ginny playfully.  
  
"No, I mean… You know what I mean," said Harry, wishing she would stop being so difficult.  
  
"Yeah, of course I do. I knew what you were going to say before you said it," she grinned slyly. "From the look you got on your face, the slightly queasy one."  
  
"Well, what's your answer then?" Harry asked impatiently.  
  
"Well, sure, but I hope you don't expect to treat me the same way you treated Cho!" said Ginny.  
  
"What, what d'you mean?" asked Harry startled.  
  
"Nothing, I was just kidding," said Ginny, in a comforting way. "I think she treated you a lot worse than you treated her. From the way you told it, she was always crying on your shoulder or yelling in your face."  
  
Harry and Ginny laughed together, and Ginny reached over and slipped her hand into Harry's. They walked together for 20 minutes before going back to the Burrow. 


	3. OWLs

Chapter 3  
  
O.W.L.'s  
  
Two days later, the results of the O.W.L.'s arrived at the Burrow. Harry tore his open, and in the split second before he looked at the results, was nearly overcome with nerves. His Potions score would determine whether or not he would have a shot at becoming an auror. He looked down at the page.  
  
Astronomy Poor  
  
Care of Magical CreaturesOutstanding  
  
Charms ExceedsExpectations  
  
Defense Against the Dark ArtsOutstanding  
  
DivinationDreadful  
  
HerbologyAcceptable  
  
History of MagicPoor  
  
PotionsAcceptable  
  
TransfigurationExceeds Expectations  
  
Well. That was it then. Acceptable was higher than he could have reasonably expected to have done, but it still was lower than was needed to continue in Potions and have a chance to pass his Potions N.E.W.T. at the end of his seventh year. Well, now there was no way for him to become an auror. The one thing that had kept Harry going this summer, that had kept him from completely falling into depression about Sirius Black's death was the fact that if he was an auror, he would be able to avenge Sirius' death by taking down a great number of Dark Wizards. But it now seemed as if that would be impossible. Harry looked up miserably, and remembered that there were other people in the room.  
  
"How'd you guys do?" asked Harry in a would-be conversational tone.  
  
"Well, let's trade," said Ron, and they exchanged papers. Ron had did about the same as Harry, except that he had scraped an 'Acceptable' in History of Magic and only an 'Acceptable' in Charms.  
  
"Tough luck on the Potions, mate, I suppose neither of us will be able to be Aurors… then again, I was never quite sure that was the job for me anyway," said Ron. "What'd you get Hermione?"  
  
At first, she looked rather embarrassed, and at first it seemed as if she wouldn't tell them, but finally she gave them the parchment. All of her grades were "Outstanding" except for runes and astronomy, in which she had only manage "Exceeds Expectations." Ron looked at her in a way that made it seem like she made him quite sick, and Harry could only shake his head with a facial expression somewhere between disgust and envy.   
  
"Why, you could have any career you wanted," said Harry, a note of awe in his voice.  
  
"Yes, and she'll probably just use her brains to try to further S.P.E.W.," said Ron, shaking his head again.  
  
Shortly, Lupin popped his head in the room. "Well, how'd you guys do?" he asked. Rather than go to the lengths of reading out loud for him, each of them simply passed their results to Lupin in turn. "Well," said Lupin, after reviewing them all, "these are very good. Each of you got an "Outstanding in your Defense Against the Dark Arts too. Any Death Eaters who cross your paths will have quite a problem on their hands."  
  
"Well, it's all because of Harry's teaching skills, not Umbridge's" said Hermione truthfully.  
  
"Thanks," said Harry, still glum.  
  
"What's wrong with you Harry?" asked Lupin, concerned.  
  
"Well, my Potions results aren't good enough to allow me to take N.E.W.T. level Potions. That means that I won't be able to be an Auror like I wanted to be," said Harry sadly.  
  
"Well, not everyone can be an Auror," said Lupin, pointing out what was, in Harry's opinion, too painfully obvious to warrant discussion. "But there are plenty of other ways that you can combat the Dark Arts in your career, Harry. For instance, it sounds like you'd make a great Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."   
  
Harry was somewhat consoled by this, and there was still the added bonus of never having to have Snape in class again. Still, Harry was disappointed.  
  
When he discussed his feelings with Ginny that night when they went for another walk (this had become a nightly occasion for them, leaving Ron and Hermione back at the Burrow), Ginny responded, "Well, maybe you could be a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. At the rate we're going, by the time your ready to get the job, there'll be an opening for it."  
  
"True," agreed Harry, and thought that having a job at Hogwarts might not be too bad. It had been, after all, one of the places where he had most enjoyed being over the past couple of years.   
  
For the next few weeks, the days passed, as days have a tendency to do. Near the end of August, when there were only 3 days left before the school year was to begin, an unexpected visitor showed up at the Burrow. Aside from Voldemort, this visitor was one of the worst types of visitors that could show up at the Burrow during the last few days of summer vacation: A professor.  
  
The professor in question was Minerva McGonogall, and Harry was distressed to find out that she wanted to talk to him in private.  
  
"What is it?" asked Harry, once all the others have left the dining room. Harry couldn't imagine what he could have possibly done wrong this time.  
  
"Do you remember last year, when I told Umbridge that I would do anything within my power to make sure that you would become an Auror?"  
  
"Yes," said Harry, who remembered the occasion quite well, "but that's highly irrelevant now isn't it?"   
  
"No, not at all. I keep my word," said Professor McGonnogal. "And if you believe that Snape is the only teacher at the school who can teach Potions, you are much mistaken. You have proven many times on your Defense Against the Dark Arts tests, that it is not always necessary to have a competent teacher in a subject to test well in it. If I tutor you in Potions for the next 2 years, you will be quite prepared to take the Potions N.E.W.T. in 2 years."  
  
Harry was stunned. He had not even considered this option.  
  
"Really?" he asked.  
  
"Well, yes. You must be prepared, however, to put forth the necessary effort in the class. I will be taking my own personal time to tutor you, and so I expect to see results. But I believe that you are quite capable of scraping a passing grade on the N.E.W.T. if you work hard. After all, your grade of "Acceptable" on the O.W.L. was a vast improvement from your usual grades in the class. Besides, you should be able to learn better without Professor Snape being so hard on you," she said, with a slight smile that signified that she really shouldn't be talking like this about her fellow professor.  
  
"Wow," said Harry. "Thank you."  
  
"Your welcome. And since I'm here, Dumbeldore asked me to deliver these letters personally," said Professor McGonogall, handing over a book/supplies list for each Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. "If you'll give these to them, I'll be on my way. I still have to stop at Tonks' place and talk to her tonight. She will, by the way, be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for this coming year," revealed the Professor before she left.   
  
With this new information, Harry had a new outlook on the possibilities of this next school year. They were actually going to have a decent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Harry would be allowed to learn Potions without Snape. Things were looking up. 


	4. Platform 9 34

Platform 9&3/4  
  
Days later, Harry, Ron and Hermione were back at the train station, preparing for the usual ride back to Hogwarts. As the Weasleys wished him a safe journey, he remembered the last time he had gotten on the train to leave for Hogwarts. Then Sirius had been there to see him off too. Harry had another one of the now familiar pangs of sadness mixed with guilt. He tried to push the feeling away, but it did not leave until it was replaced by another emotion that had become a common part of Harry's repertoire: Hate.   
  
This emotion was provoked by the appearance of none other than Draco Malfoy. He got on the train directly before Harry and his friends, and Harry made a deliberate effort to walk in the opposite direction as the one that Malfoy started to go. Yes, he was angry at Malfoy for his father's involvement in the battle that had killed Sirius. And yes, he was even more furious knowing that Draco condoned what his father had done. But he still felt that performing a curse on Malfoy would not be the best way to start off his disciplinary record for this term.   
  
But some day, Harry thought, with some satisfaction, all the Death Eaters would pay. Especially Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry imagined that someday he would have the satisfaction of seeing Lestrange's face contort in pain as Harry performed the Cruciatus curse successfully on her.  
  
Harry looked around and noticed that Ginny was looking at him in a very concerned way. "Are you all right Harry?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah," he lied. Then he considered for a second and decided that he really shouldn't make a habit of lying to his girlfriend. "Well, no, not really," he revised.  
  
"What are you thinking about?" she asked.  
  
"Death Eaters, and how much I want to kill them all," said Harry, felling it slightly inappropriate to discuss these feelings with Ginny.  
  
But Ginny simply nodded sympathetically and said, "Let's go find a compartment, and we can talk about this."  
  
"No, I'll be all right," he said.  
  
"Well, we still might as well go find a compartment. Ron and Hermione have to go meet with the prefects, but they'll come join us later. Are you sure you're going to be all right Harry?" she asked, still obviously concerned.  
  
"Yeah, I'll be fine," said Harry, trying to think of something else to talk about. Having an actual conversation might help to distract his hateful thoughts. "You're not disappointed that you're not a prefect, are you Ginny?" he asked, although he felt somewhat as if this conversation starter was the verbal equivalent of grasping at straws.  
  
"Disappointed?! Not nearly as disappointed as Fred and George would have been if I had been made one," said Ginny smiling. "They were quite relieved. Mother on the other hand... well, you saw her." Harry had, of course. Yes, Mrs. Weasley had been disappointed that Ginny had not been made prefect, but she got over it quickly. After all, she had never expected Ron to make prefect.  
  
"Do you know who either of the other 5th year prefects are from our house then?" asked Harry, trying very hard to keep this conversation going.  
  
"Yeah, the girl is Amy Bell, Katie's little sister. She's pulls slightly better grades than I do, and talks a lot less in class, which is probably why she was made prefect over me," Ginny said.  
  
"Really?" said Harry, who hadn't known that Katie Bell had even had a little sister. He was rather glad that the conversation had turned to this topic, however, because Quidditch was one of the few thingss that could still distract him when he got into a bad mood. "Why doesn't she play Quidditch?"  
  
"Well, she's going to this year," Ginny explained, "but the only position she'd even consider playing is Chaser. Which is why she never tried out last year."  
  
"I see," said Harry, "we'll have to see if she can play as well as her sister.  
  
"Yeah, but she'll have to spend time on her prefect duties this year as well, she'll be pretty busy if she makes the team. Yet another reason why I'm glad I wasn't picked," Ginny said.  
  
At just that moment, Malfoy walked in, flanked as usual by Crabbe and Goyle. Immediately, Harry reached for his wand.  
  
"Relax," drawled Malfoy, showing both his hands palms out to prove that his wand was not drawn. "I wouldn't want to curse you in front of your girlfriend," he said, gesturing to Ginny.  
  
Harry wagered that that was pretty near the truth, but also that the truth also had something to do with Malfoy being afraid that with both Ginny and Harry there, they might be able to outcurse Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.  
  
Harry eyed Crabbe and Goyle closely, making sure that they weren't going to reach for their wands, as Malfoy said, "Just beware, I will get you back for getting my father sent to prison."  
  
Harry was still debating whether he ought to take out his own wand and curse Malfoy when Ron and Hermione walked in. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle apparently took this as their cue to leave.  
  
"So that's why he rushed off at the end of the prefect meeting," said Ron, "wanted to talk to you before we got here, that way they'd outnumber you. He didn't try anything funny did he?"  
  
"No, he was scared of me," said Ginny, laughing.  
  
"Maybe he was expecting you to be alone," ventured Hermione. "And maybe you ought to try not to be alone in the hallways too much this year."  
  
"I can take care of myself," Harry said, slightly irritated.   
  
"Still," said Ron, "it'd probably be best if you didn't end up confronting him alone."   
  
Harry was so shocked to find Ron and Hermione agreeing about something that he said, "Yeah, sure whatever. I usually walk around with you guys anyway, right?"  
  
"Exactly," said Hermione, "so it's settled then."  
  
Just then, the door opened again, and the Creevey brothers entered. During Harry's second year, Colin Creevey had been nearly as annoying as Gilderoy Lockhart had been. The fact that he was already showing up on the train ride to Hogwarts seemed a bad omen to Harry. The omen worsened when Colin opened his mouth, "Wow, Harry, I heard over the summer what you did at the Ministry of Magic. That was really brave!"  
  
More like stupid, thought Harry bitterly, but instead said, "A bunch of other people were involved too. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Luna, and Neville. They were all just as brave as I was," finished Harry, thinking, so why don't you go bug some of them instead?  
  
Luckily for Harry, Neville and Luna entered the compartment at that moment, prompting Colin (who seemed to be slightly frightend of Luna) to say "Well, Harry, nice to see you again," and leave promptly.   
  
For the rest of the train ride, the 6 of them (Hermione and Ron, being sixth year prefects, were not required to patrol the corridors of the train like the fifth year prefects were) talked, each tactfully neglecting to mention the trip to the Ministry of Magic. However, it was on all of their minds anyway. As the train neared Hogwarts, Harry hoped in vain that this year might just be the first normal year he was to have at Hogwarts. 


	5. The Pride of Centaurs

The Pride of Centaurs  
  
(A/N: I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to review my story thus far, whether the review was positive or negative. And to anyone who has persisted in reading this far despite the general lack of action: I'm attempting to cause things to get more exciting toward the end of this chapter. Let me know what you think.)  
  
On the whole, the beginning of term feast was not a very exciting affair. The sorting hat did not choose to warn the students to stand together against Voldemort, probably figuring that now that Voldemort's attempts to ascend back into power were now common knowledge in the wizarding world, all those who were going to stand against Voldemort were already doing so.   
  
Harry was relieved to see Hagrid occupying his normal spot at the table this year, although he did look rather tired. Tonks was sitting beside him, today appearing as a wizened looking witch in her late fifties or so. Harry supposed that Tonks judged this appearance to be more suited for the teaching profession than one with spiked hair. Beside Tonks was sitting Professor Snape. Looking at Snape this year did not provoke the normal dread in Harry that it would have if he was going to have Snape if a teacher this year.   
  
Ginny kept yawning throughout the feast, and conversation was not very interesting. Harry kept glancing up at Hagrid, who upon second glance seemed not only to be tired, but also very worried about something as well. Harry was very curious about what this could possibly be, but after the feast ended, Hagrid went back to his cabin right away, so Harry did not get a chance to talk to him about it.   
  
When Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione made it up to the Gryffindor common room, Harry mentioned his concern about Hagrid to him.   
  
"I wonder whether he's sent his brother back home yet?" asked Hermione.  
  
"I don't know if he necessarily even survived his confrontation with the Centaurs at the end of last year, they were pretty vicious," said Harry.  
  
"Do you think we should go talk to him?" asked Ron.  
  
"Why don't we wait 'til tomorrow, I'm really tired, and besides, wouldn't we get caught?" asked Ginny.  
  
"I've never told you about my invisibility cloak, have I?" asked Harry, grinning. "No, we won't get caught," he reassured her. "But if you want to stay back because you're tired, feel free."  
  
"I would come," said Ginny, "but I'll fall asleep standing up if I don't get to sleep soon."  
  
"Well, good night then," said Harry.  
  
"Yeah, good night," Ginny responded, and kissed Harry on the cheek.  
  
Harry, who was mildly embarrassed at even this mild public display of affection, quickly retreated to his room to grab his invisibility cloak. Moments later, he, Ron and Hermione were making their way across the grounds to Hagrid's cabin.   
  
They reached the cabin and removed the invisibility cloak. When they knocked on the door, a very nervous sounding Hagrid called, "Look, I don't want a fight, I'm leaving right now!"  
  
"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry yelled through the door. "Let us in!"  
  
When Hagrid opened the door, his face was panic-stricken, and it was quite obvious that he had been packing all the important things in his cabin into one trunk. Fang was barking like mad.   
  
"Look, you guys have got ter get yerselves back ter the castle right away. I'm headin' there just's soon's I can get my stuff packed. I'm not safe this close ter the forest anymore," said Hagrid.  
  
"What, why?" asked Ron, looking as confused as Hagrid did scared.  
  
"I don't have time ter explain," said Hagrid, impatiently. "Just go! I've got ter pack! Oh no! Too late!" Hagrid was looking with increasing panic over the heads of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.  
  
The three of them wielded around as quickly as they could. The scene that they saw was almost enough to make Harry scream. No less than 20 centaurs had emerged from the forbidden forest, each carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows.   
  
"Hagrid, you have not heeded our warning to leave your cabin immediately. Therefore, you have brought your fate upon yourself," said one of the centaurs.  
  
Hagrid, who had reached into the cabin and grabbed his own bow and quiver, was currently fastening an arrow.  
  
"Wait for a moment, so that the young have a chance to retreat," suggested one of the centaurs.  
  
"Those are no young," replied the first centaur. "The black-haired boy, and the young woman insulted us about three months ago, by assuming that we were simply tools at their disposal."  
  
"Well, then we must at least let the red-haired one go," said the kinder centaur. During this time, Hagrid had paused in loading his arrow, so as not to provoke the centaurs to attack before they had released anybody who they were planning on releasing.  
  
Harry and Hermione were terrified, and they each shot a glance at Ron. Each of the three of them had already reached down into their pockets and grabbed their wands, but had not yet pulled them, because they knew that the presence of wands would simply provoke the centaurs to a greater extent.  
  
"No," said Ron, "I won't leave without my friends. I'll stay here and fight if necessary."   
  
Now Harry believed that this was a very stupid, though noble thing to say. The centaurs, apparently, found it simply insulting. "He believes that he can fight us!" scoffed the previously sympathetic centaur. "You're right, he may be stupid, but he is not innocent."  
  
The centaurs raised their bows in unison. "Get behind me!" commanded Hagrid, attempting to step in front of the three young wizards. "And don't do anything to provoke them!"  
  
But apparently, the centaurs were already thoroughly provoked. Several exciting and important things happened in the next several seconds. The lead centaur (the one who had began to converse with Hagrid originally) shouted "Fire!" Immediately, as the centaurs were pulling back their bowstrings, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had each pulled their wands and they yelled "Expelliarmus!"   
  
Many of the centaurs lost their bows as a result of that. Then, as several centaurs began to reach to the ground to find their bows, and Hagrid prepared to fire his own arrow, two centaurs who still possessed their bows managed to hit Hagrid with arrows. Hagrid bellowed, and began to fall backwards as Harry, Ron, and Hermione scrambled to get out of the way. They each yelled "Expelliarmus!" again, more urgently this time, and this time their collective voice was supplemented by a fourth. Even over the voices of his friends, Harry recognized the other voice as Dumbledore's. Even the centaurs who had recently managed to collect their bows from the ground lost them again, and they flew a few feet away. The centaurs turned around to see their new adversary.   
  
Dumbledore said "You will retreat now, and give each of my comrades the chance to retreat once and for all from your Forbidden Forest, as well as the land immediately surrounding it. Including this cabin."  
  
The centaurs hesitated. Harry whispered to Ron and Hermione, "Next time, we'll do the Stunning Charm instead of trying to disarm them." The centaurs seemed to be weighing their odds against 4 wizards. They seemed to decide that these odds were not too good, and so, they began slowly to retreat, mumbling angry under their breath the whole time.   
  
Dumbledore made his way over to Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Hagrid. He knelt down beside Hagrid. "I'm all right," Hagrid said, weakly. He did not appear to be telling the truth, as he did have one arrow sticking out of his chest, and another sticking out of his right arm.   
  
"Yes, I'm sure you'll survive," said Dumbledore. "But allow me to summon Madam Pomfrey anyway... Actually, maybe we ought to take you to her. It doesn't seem like this area of the grounds is too safe any more." Dumbledore performed a levitation charm on Hagrid's trunk and his body as well, and both floated behind Dumbledore as he made his way back to the castle.   
  
"You three," he said, motioning to Ron, Harry, and Hermione, "ought to come with us. But don't forget that cloak of yours. You wouldn't want to lose it."  
  
"We're uh... How much trouble are we in?" asked Hermione cautiously.  
  
"You? Well, as far as I'm concerned, it was the centaurs who did something wrong," said Dumbledore. "You're just lucky that Firenze was able to warn me of the Centaur's intentions ahead of time. Apparently not all the Centaurs are against Firenze, and so he still has contacts within his species. And one tipped him off that Hagrid was in trouble."  
  
"I mean, are we in trouble for sneaking out of bed," said Hermione. Ron shot her a glance that said something to the effect of "don't remind him!" As shaken as Ron must have been by this near death experience, he was still anxious to avoid getting in trouble if it was possible.  
  
"Yes, well, I suppose I'll subtract 10 points from Gryffindor for each of you for being ought of bed late. But I'll add those 30 points back on the grounds that you helped to save the life of one of your teachers. Thus, you break even, and no one ever need know about your deviant behavior. And I simply wouldn't feel right giving you any detentions, as my discovery was through no fault of your own," said Dumbledore, grinning. "But," he said, appearing more serious, "I trust that the three of you will desist from roaming the grounds at night, and will never come so close to the Forbidden Forest again."  
  
"Yes sir," the three of them responded earnestly.   
  
"Okay," said Dumbledore, now that they had arrived at the castle, "Put your cloak back on and get to bed right away. You've had quite an exciting night." Observing the way the three youth were looking anxiously at Hagrid, Dumbledore continued, "Madame Pomfrey will have no trouble nursing him back to health, and you may visit him tomorrow in the hospital wing."  
  
Once back in the Gryffindor common room, Harry, Ron, and Hermione removed the cloak.   
  
Hermione regarded Ron, "That was really brave the way you stayed back there with us," she gushed.  
  
"I really had no choice," said Ron modestly. "I couldn't have lived with myself knowing that I had left the three of you back there to die. I did the only thing that I could."  
  
Nevertheless, Hermione gave Ron a quick kiss before the three parted to go to bed. Once Harry reached his familiar four-poster, he fell asleep as soon as he hit the mattress. 


	6. The New Term

Chapter 6  
  
The New Term  
  
At breakfast the next morning, all sixth year students were advised to meet with their Head of House directly following breakfast. No schedules were passed out to the sixth years as they were to everyone else at breakfast that morning. At breakfast, Ginny listened in awe as she was told what had happened while they were trying to visit Hagrid the night before.   
  
Before people began clearing out of the Dining Hall, Dumbledore stood up and announced, "Care of Magical Creatures Classes will not be meeting today, as a result of Hagrid's temporary illness. When classes restart tomorrow, they will be held on the grounds directly by the castle rather than by Hagrid's cabin. Other than that, I wish you all a pleasant first day of classes."  
  
When they were finished with breakfast, Harry, Ron, and Hermione bade Ginny farewell and made their way up to McGonagall's room. Neville was the last straggler to come in, and after he arrived, McGonagall began to speak. "Well, as you know, you will all be beginning your N.E.W.T. classes this term. I would recommend that you all take at least 4 or 5 classes this term, although I would advise against taking more than 7," Harry was pretty sure that McGonagall looked straight at Hermione as she said this, "as each of these classes will be very difficult, and we wouldn't want anybody overstressing themselves. You will receive a full schedule of classes that are available to Gryffindor Sixth Years this year, and you will choose which classes you need to attend." She handed out the schedules.  
  
They read as follows:  
  
Monday Morning: Arithmancy  
  
Monday Afternoon: Charms  
  
Monday Night: Astronomy  
  
Tuesday Morning: Care of Magical Creatures  
  
Tuesday Afternoon: Divination  
  
Wednesday Morning: Ancient Runes  
  
Wednesday Afternoon: Transfiguration  
  
Thursday Morning: Defense Against the Dark Arts  
  
Thursday Afternoon: Herbology  
  
Friday Morning: Potions   
  
Friday Afternoon: History of Magic  
  
After she handed the schedules out, she said, "This means that you will all have some free mornings or free afternoons. This time will be largely spent on the great deal of homework that each of these classes will no doubt afford you. Now, you all know from your O.W.L. scores for which classes you are qualified. For any class other than mine and Proffesor Snape's a score of Acceptable is able to get you into the class. For Potions, you will remember that only scores of Outstanding will be allowed to participate, and for my class you must have scored at least Exceeds Expectations. Well, you may all go now, Arithmancy starts in half an hour for anyone who is interested. Potter, stay here for a minute."  
  
Everybody except Harry left, and Ron and Hermione promised to wait for him out in the hall. McGonagall addressed Harry, "I trust that you will be taking D.A.D.A., Charms, and Transfiguration as I have advised you?"  
  
"Yes," answered Harry.  
  
"Along with potions, that gives you the possibility of getting 'Exceeds Expectations' on 4 of your 5 N.E.W.T.'s required for becoming an Auror. That means you still have one class of your own choice to take," said Professor McGonagall.  
  
"I'll take 'Care of Magical Creatures,'" said Harry without hesitation.   
  
"All right," said McGonagall, glancing at Harry's schedule. "That means you have Fridays free. Well, we won't mess that up for you. I will tutor you in Potions on Thursday evenings. As captain of the team, you can make certain that that will not interfere with your practice," said Professor McGonagall with a smile. Regaining her serious demeanor, she stated, "And I expect you to work very hard in Potions from now on. I do not intend to waste my time. If you do not put forth effort to improve consistently and in a timely manner, I will discontinue our sessions."  
  
"Yes, professor," Harry assured her. He had been given another chance at becoming an auror, and he was not going to screw this up.  
  
When Harry met with Hermione and Ron out in the hallway, Ron asked, "So, Harry, what classes are you going to take?"   
  
Harry explained his schedule, including the special lessons with McGonagall, and then asked Ron what he was taking.  
  
"Well, I'm going to take basically everything you're taking, except I'll take Herbology instead of Potions."  
  
"Any idea what you're going to do with that once you're out of Hogwarts?" asked Harry.  
  
"I think I'm going to go off and study dragons or something like my brother. Something that the Care of Magical Creatures will come in handy for, I think. Or else, if I get good enough at it," he smiled somewhat embarrassedly, "maybe I'll be able to get on a professional Quidditch team."  
  
"Speaking of Quidditch, we're going to have to have tryouts for that soon, to fill the Chaser spots. Hermione, what courses are you taking?" he asked, and immediately decided that this may not have been the smartest thing he could have asked her at the moment. She seemed to be highly frustrated.  
  
"I just don't know!" she mused, confirming Harry's suspicions. "Well, Defense Against the Dark Arts, of course. And transfiguration and charms are always important. But I just don't know what I want to do when I get out of school."  
  
"You could be an Auror," said Harry excitedly. "You get the top marks, and what could be more important than fighting Dark Wizards?"  
  
Hermione looked for a moment as if she might mention something about S.P.E.W., and Ron looked for a moment as if he might actually kill her if she did. But then Hermione simply said, "Well, I'll have to think about that. But first, I've got to go to Arithmancy."  
  
"You're taking that again?" asked Ron, in disbelief, "you said that was your toughest class."  
  
"Which is exactly why I should take it again. Whatever I decide to be, a N.E.W.T. in that will look impressive on my application," she said, before rushing off toward the part of the castle that her Arithmancy class was in.  
  
"Well, that's just terrible for her. If she's really going to take Charms too, that means she's going to have a full schedule on a Monday," said Ron, half-sympathetically. "Of course, she's doing it to herself."  
  
"Well, are you up for a game of Wizard's Chess?" asked Harry, as they made their way back to the common room.  
  
At lunch that day, Hermione said, "Did you know that there are only 3 of us in that Arithmancy class?"  
  
"Really?" asked Ron, sounding somewhat surprised, "3 of you were big enough masochists to take such a hard class? Who else?"  
  
"Me, Ernie MacMillan, and Draco Malfoy," said Hermione, ignoring Ron's insult. "I was talking to Ernie about carreer plans as well, and I think I've decided what I'm going to do."  
  
"Oh yeah?" asked Harry, interested, "what?"  
  
"I'm going to be a member of the Ministry of Magic," Hermione announced.   
  
Ron groaned, "I always knew you were too much like Percy."  
  
"Oh, that's really not fair," said Hermione, seeming somewhat hurt by the comment. "After all, your Dad is a member of the Ministry too, and he's all right, isn't he?"  
  
"Well, yeah," admitted Ron. "Have you decided what part of the ministry you're going to go into?"  
  
"Yeah, that's the best part. I'm going into the part that deals with magical creatures. That way I'll still be able to call attention to the atrocities being committed towards house-elves."  
  
After that, nothing of great import (except for the nasty look that Ron shot at Hermione) occurred until the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class on Thursday afternoon. In the class, there were a total of 20 people (all the houses took the N.E.W.T. classes at the same times, so the classes could get a little big) and Harry noticed that many of the people that were in the class had also been in his Defense club the year before, and also that Slytherin was noticeably un-represented in the class.   
  
When the class started, Tonks introduced herself to the class, "My name is Tonks. No need to call me Professor, as I'm not much older than you." (The face she was wearing today was helpful in convincing people of this point, as she appeared to be in her mid-twenties today.) "Other than that, I thank you all for signing up to take this class, and I hope to prove to be a more competent teacher than some of those you have had in the past. The first thing you will all have to do at this point is to take out your wands."  
  
At this, there was a round of applause from the class, each member of which remembered all too well the reign of Umbridge and the days of wand-less D.A.D.A. classes.   
  
"For our first lesson today, I am going to teach you all a counter-curse which can come in dead useful against Dark Wizards. It renders the wands of both the wizard who it is directed toward and the wizard who sent it unable to perform any spell that would cause death or pain to another wizard for twenty-four hours. Thus, even if the spell is deflected back toward you, it will still be effective, as the wizard who deflected at you will then become the caster of the spell. It's a great way of leveling the playing field in such a way that neither wizard will be mortally harmed in a battle. Now, the incantation for this spell is-"   
  
At this point, Tonks was disturbed by the tapping of an owl at the window. It was not an owl that was familiar to Harry, and it was knocking on the window closest to Tonks, so at first, Harry was unconcerned, believing that it was simply a personal message for her. Tonks seemed to be thinking along these same lines and was hesitant to open the window and let the owl in during her lesson, but the owl would not stop knocking on the window. Finally, Tonks yielded to the will of the owl, and opened the window.  
  
She took the letter off the owl's leg, and asked the class to please wait a moment as she read the letter to herself. As she read, her face was overcome by a look of fear. When she was done reading, she looked up at the class, and Harry was pretty sure that she was looking at him in particular. Then she looked away, and began to make her way toward the door. "I must show this letter to Dumbledore immediately. Please look this spell up and practice it amongst yourselves until I get back."  
  
And like that, Tonks was gone. A general murmur went up among the students in the class. "What do you reckon the letter was about?" asked Ron curiously.  
  
"It must've been something really important," reasoned Hermione. "Maybe it was-"  
  
But at this moment, the owl that Tonks had let in, which had until this point been looking insolently around the room, took flight, and began attacking random members of the class. It wasn't until ten seconds later when Hermione proved wise enough to perform a stunning charm on it that things finally quieted down, leaving no less than 3 people with nasty cuts. Ron got up and through the stunned owl out the open window before closing it again.   
  
Conversation once again turned to what could have been the contents of the letter that had so disturbed Tonks. 


	7. Late Night Patrol

A/N: I would like to thank everyone who had reviewed and/or read my story thus far. I apologize that this chapter's a bit longer than the previous chapters, but I wanted to get some action into this chapter. Let me know what you think. By the way, I'm grateful that I've been getting some favorable reviews, but I'd also appreciate criticism where applicable. Thanks for reading, enjoy!  
  
Chapter 7  
  
Late Night Patrol  
  
The letter that Tonks received had no noticeable effect on life at Hogwarts for the next couple days. Harry asked Tonks what the letter had been about, but she refused to say. He had noticed, however, that when she got back from her emergency meeting with Dumbledore (which had taken her up until about half way through the class), she stuck the letter in a drawer of her desk, as if for filing purposes.   
  
She then used the rest of the class to teach them the rest of the information about the charm, which was called the "Disabling Charm," which was performed using the incantation Debilitatus.  
  
On Thursday night, Harry had his first lesson with McGonagall. She set him on his way after simply writing the instructions on the board as Snape had done, and telling him to sit down at his normal transfiguration desk, where there were now potions ingredients.   
  
"This potion is used to reverse the effects of the last potion that the drinker has tasted. It is, therefore, extremely useful. Your homework for next week is to write one foot of parchment on the topic of why this potion is not more commonly carried. Now, be careful not to mess this potion up too badly. I expect at least a satisfactory level potion, because that's what you pulled on your O.W.L. and we can't afford you to slip at all," concluded McGonagall sternly.  
  
During the rest of the lesson, she simply sat at her desk and graded Transfiguration papers. Harry felt pretty confident that he was doing well, and at the end of the lesson, he took the potion up to McGonagall's desk. "All right," said McGonagall, "I will give you a grade for this during our next lesson." Then Harry left.  
  
Harry made his first executive decision as Captain of the House Team as he reserved the Quidditch Pitch on Wednesday night for the purpose of holding team tryouts.   
  
Until then, all of his classes went normally, and Hagrid seemed to be completely recovered from his row with the centaurs. On Friday morning, it was announced that anyone venturing onto the grounds must do so in groups of at least 5, and Harry naturally assumed that this was a direct, although somewhat belated result, of Hagrid's injuries at the hands of the centaurs.  
  
In other news, Harry was still quite pleased with his situation with Ginny. They were still "going together" but without all the tearful implications that had been involved when he had been going out with Cho. On the night before Quidditch tryouts, they had sat up an hour after Ron and Hermione had gone to sleep and had a nice pleasant conversation about Quidditch strategy. Harry had enjoyed it thoroughly. And then, before they went to bed, they had kissed. Harry had enjoyed that too.  
  
Quidditch tryouts went well enough. After allowing everyone who wanted to tryout for Chaser (including, as it happened, Colin Creevey, who, though terribly enthusiastic, turned out to be a bad enough flier that he would have rammed straight into Harry, probably causing him to plummet off his broom to injury or death, had Harry not been quick enough to dodge) a vote of the returning members (including Ginny, as she had been Seeker the year before) produced the following team:  
  
Seeker: Harry Potter  
  
Keeper: Ron Weasley  
  
Beaters: Andrew Kirke, Jack Sloper  
  
Chasers: Amy Bell, Ginny Weasley, and Seamus Finnigan  
  
Amy was almost as good as her sister had been, Ginny was good and showed ability to be great with lots of practice, and Seamus was far from spectacular, but still better than Harry would have expected from a rookie.   
  
"Okay," Harry said, addressing his new team. "So far, I've got the field booked for us on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons. If we work really hard, we may just be able to get the cup again. First practice will be this Saturday starting at one."  
  
Colin, who had not left with the others who were told they had not made the team, asked, "Harry, do you mind if I watch the practices? I'd really like to watch how real Quidditch players play, so that I can get better."  
  
Harry was hesitant at first, but he couldn't deny that Colin needed all the help he could have at getting better, and figured that there would be no harm in it. He was a Gryffindor after all, and still had the chance to make it on the team some other year. "Does anyone have any objections?" Harry asked the rest of the team.  
  
Nobody said anything, and it seemed to Harry that everyone was kind of glad to have an audience. Must make them feel like celebrities or something, thought Harry, who had had quite enough of being a celebrity, and given the choice, would have less celebrity status rather than more. But Harry gave in and allowed Colin permission to come watch practices.   
  
By the time they all made their way back up toward the castle, it was already dark, and Harry and Ron, who were leading the group, made a conscious effort to stay as far away from the Forbidden Forest as possible. By the time they got up to portrait-hole, it was two minutes past curfew, but as they had been out practicing for Quidditch, Harry did not expect that they'd get in trouble.   
  
He expected even less that there would be somebody standing guard outside of the portrait hole. But there was, and that person was Remus Lupin.   
  
"What're you doing here?" asked Harry, surprised.  
  
Lupin seemed hesitant to answer at all, and when he did answer, what he said was not terribly revealing, "I have been asked to guard Gryffindor Tower," stated Lupin simply.  
  
"But why?" asked Harry.  
  
"I… I can't tell you," said Lupin, as if it was painful for him to say so. "But Harry, don't go looking for the reason. Stay in Gryffindor Tower after curfew. All of you. You hear?"  
  
"Yes," Harry answered. Each of the other members of the Quidditch team answered as well, and Colin, in a somewhat squeaky voice, said, "Yes, sir." Harry glanced at Colin, who seemed somewhat shaken at the reappearance of Lupin inside the school. Harry figured that it must be because of the fact that everybody knew that Lupin was a werewolf, and there was still a great stigma surrounding that.   
  
That night, Harry was too exhausted from Quidditch tryouts (he had played different positions all throughout the night to help test people's skills) to even think much about the mysterious need to guard the castle at night, but the topic of conversation the next morning at breakfast predictably focused around that mystery.   
  
"So, why do you think there are guards?" Harry asked Hermione once he had related the events of the previous night to her.   
  
"I don't really know," admitted Hermione, "but I would advise against you trying to find out what it is."  
  
"Why?" asked Harry, surprised.  
  
"Because apparently Dumbeldore already knows about the problem, and he'll be able to take care of it," Hermione said.  
  
"Yes, but remember first year?" asked Harry. "We had to take matters into our own hands."  
  
"Do you remember last time we tried to take things into our own hands?" asked Hermione scathingly, obviously referring to the events of last spring which had ended with Sirius dead.  
  
Ron glared at Hermione for a second before saying, "Look, Harry, that last comment was a little bit below the belt, I grant you. But the fact remains, there's really no reason to go looking for trouble."  
  
"Fine," said Harry, who still had every intention of examining the situation. "Fine. We won't do anything."  
  
That night, Harry stayed in the library until curfew, keeping his invisibility cloak in his backpack. At about two minutes before curfew, he went into the hall and slipped the invisibility cloak on. He had a destination in mind already. He was going to go to the D.A.D.A. room and find out what the letter that Tonks had received was about, and whether that might have anything to do with the raised security at Hogwarts.   
  
He made his way stealthily (which was not terribly hard to do considering the cloak) to the DADA room. When he got to the room, he closed himself in and, after a quick glance around the room, took it off, because that would make it easier to handle the letter and whatnot.   
  
Suddenly, Harry heard something stir in the corner of the room. And then, emerging from beneath an invisibility cloak of her own, was Bellatrix Lestrange. Many thoughts rushed through Harry's mind at once, including the following:  
  
1. Cursing himself for forgetting to look at the Marauder's Map to find out if anyone was in the room.  
  
2. Hatred boiling inside him against Bellatrix Lestrange.  
  
3. Fear of this woman who was apparently a very competent witch, if she was good enough to kill Sirius.  
  
4. The beginnings of a plan of action.  
  
Lestrange cried, "Expelliarmus!"  
  
"Protego!" yelled Harry, and watched with satisfaction as the spell disarmed Lestrange. Then he said, "Debilitatus."  
  
Lestrange picked up her wand, and Harry, who was feeling somewhat safer knowing that she couldn't hurt or kill him, let down his guard. "Petrificus Totalus!" she said, and Harry felt his body stiffen beneath him. So, maybe she couldn't hurt him with her wand, but now that he was frozen there in place, she could certainly think of more muggle ways to hurt him. Harry was just thinking that maybe a quick death would have been preferable to this when Lestrange's face began to change.   
  
Seconds later, Harry found that he shared the room with not Lestrange, but a very angry looking Tonks. "Blast it, Harry! You were told to stay inside Gryffindor tower after curfew! I had a feeling you might come though, and so I planned this out to show you why you cannot, under any circumstances, ever be foolish enough to leave your room at night again. You could be seriously hurt! And don't think you'll get out of this without punishment either. You will have 10 detentions."  
  
"I just want to know what the letter says. If I knew what it says, maybe I'd see the seriousness of staying in the tower," Harry reasoned.  
  
"I will let you see the letter. But in return, you will give me the invisibility cloak, as insurance that you will not have the means to sneak out late at night." Harry seemed to be weighing this trade-off in his mind, but Tonks clarified, "This deal really isn't negotiable."  
  
"Well, all right then," he said. "Can you un-petrify me though?"  
  
Tonks did, and then Harry handed over the invisibility cloak.   
  
Tonks, true to her word, proffered the letter, which read as follows:  
  
To the current Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher,  
  
Let us see if you can live up to your title. I have found a way to get some of my top agents into Hogwarts, notably, Peter Pettigrew. I would advise you to be on your guard against possible ways of entering the school.  
  
--Lord Voldemort  
  
"Now," said Tonks, "the reason we did not show you this originally is because we believed, quite correctly it seems, that you would try to take it into your own hands to stand guard for him yourself. And that simply would be stupid. You simply can't expect to fend for yourself when put up against dark wizards." She glared at him, but then her mood softened a bit. "Although you did do quite well in defending yourself against me. You seem to have mastered the Disabling charm." She pause, pointed her wand at Harry and said, "Crucio," and was pleased to see that nothing happened. She continued, "And if you had been a bit quicker to shield yourself against my last curse, you would have beat me. You're just out of practice with dueling. Maybe we'll practice dueling during the detentions which I just gave you. And I suppose we can space those out over the next ten weeks on-- Which night is your Quidditch practice?"  
  
"Wednesday," answered Harry.  
  
"Well, then we'll make the detentions on Tuesdays," said Tonks.  
  
"Thank you," Harry said weakly, still somewhat shaken by his recent brush with death. 


	8. The Malfoys

Chapter 9  
  
The Malfoys  
  
When the next morning came around, Harry was quite pleased that the outcome of the adventure of the previous night had ended up being only a bunch of detentions with Tonks rather than an actual duel to the death. He was disappointed that he had lost his invisibility cloak in the transaction, but in a strict sense, he had accomplished his goal in finding out what had Tonks and the other members of the Order so worked up.  
  
He began to think about the events of the night before, and also about just what he might do about them. He remembered the fact that he had the Marauder's Map with him, and opened his trunk to get it out. But he was surprised to find that it wasn't there. He continued to look for about half an hour before giving up and making his way down to breakfast, already highly frustrated. He guessed he must have left the map back at the Weasleys' or the Dursleys'. Neither option was particularly comforting. If he had left it at the Dursleys' it was probably already thrown out. If he had left it at the Weasley's, he was reluctant to ask Mr or Mrs. Weasley's help in finding it, in case they would object to him having such a map. It would be understandable given Ginny's experiences with another bit of interactive paper in her first year. They probably wouldn't give it back to him.   
  
So by the time Harry got down to the cafeteria, he decided that as much as it pained him to do so, he was simply going to have to give up on monitoring the school for Pettigrew himself, and simply let it up to the guards to do so. His frustration at this was quickly overshadowed by other intricate emotional problems when he related the goings on of the previous night to Ginny, Ron, and Hermione.   
  
After he had finished the story, Hermione said, "Harry! That was terribly irresponsible! You could've been hurt."  
  
"You told us you wouldn't go anywhere, after we told you we wouldn't come," said Ron, sounding hurt.  
  
"You didn't even tell me you were thinking of doing anything!" said Ginny. "You asked for Ron and Hermione's help and didn't even tell me? You're a prat!" She marched off and sat down by Neville, sitting six spaces down the table. Harry would have followed, but figured he had other bridges to mend first.  
  
"Ron, Hermione, you two aren't mad at me are you?" Harry appealed.  
  
"Of course we are," said Hermione, you snuck out behind our backs."  
  
"And you're mad too?" he asked Ron.  
  
"Well, yeah," said Ron, but Harry sensed some uncertainty in his tone.  
  
"I had to," Harry explained. "I knew something was going on, and I couldn't stand the curiosity. You can't expect me to be content staying uninformed, can you?"  
  
"Well," said Ron, even more uncertainly, "I was okay not knowing…"  
  
"But you were curious, weren't you?" asked Harry.  
  
"Look, Harry, I understand why you did what you did," said Hermione, even though she still sounded a little bit angry. "It seems like Death Eaters seek you out, and I suppose we couldn't really expect you to be content not knowing anything. But now that you know, you won't go sneaking out and doing anything stupid will you?"  
  
"'Course not. I may have a tendency to do reckless things sometimes, but I'm not completely stupid. I wouldn't go out without my invisibility cloak," said Harry.   
  
"Good," said Hermione.  
  
"So, we're all on speaking terms then?" asked Harry eagerly.  
  
Hermione and Ron both answered in the affirmative.   
  
"So what's going on with Ginny?" asked Harry. "Didn't she used to be a nice, quiet girl? And now she's yelling at me."  
  
"Well, she was just shy around you. She's pretty talkative otherwise, as you seem now to be noticing," said Ron.   
  
"But you're glad for that, right? I mean, you're glad she's not shy around you anymore?" asked Hermione.  
  
"Of course," Harry said, although he wasn't sure that it mattered right now, as she wasn't talking to him anyway.   
  
Then, the post came, which, once again, did nothing to bolster Harry's mood. The first thing that Harry, Ron, and Hermione noticed about the front page of the Daily Prophet that Hermione received was that there was a picture of Lucius Malfoy on it. The accompanying story read as follows:  
  
Mass Escape From Azkaban  
  
Despite the attempts of the Ministry of Magic to place skilled Aurors to guard the prisoners of Azkaban, it seems that dementors are the only beings truly capable of guarding the most famous wizard prison. Lucius Malfoy and the other Death Eaters captured in last spring's happenings at the Ministry of Magic have escaped. Fudge vows to do his utmost to get these prisoners back into the cells where they belong, but many remain skeptical about his ability to do this. Meanwhile, citizens are warned to stay on the lookout and brush up on their Defense Against the Dark Arts skills.   
  
  
  
"Oh, great!" said Ron sarcastically, once he had finished reading this. "Even now that the Order has got the whole Ministry on their side, the Ministry isn't able to help out!"  
  
"Well, still, it's better than having the Ministry actively working against us," reasoned Hermione. "Although this particular screw-up at the ministry could be devastating for the Order. Everybody's going to have to keep their guard up doubly as much."  
  
At that moment, Malfoy, who had also apparently read the news, came over to gloat. "Looks like my father's too smart to be held captive by the Ministry. Although his success may have been partially due to the general incompetence of the Ministry workers," suggested Malfoy, glancing pointedly at Ron. "Oh, yeah, and Potter, don't think this means we're even or anything, 'cause we're not. You're still going to pay for what you did to my father," said Malfoy ominously, and walked away.  
  
"You know," Harry mused, half to himself, "this is turning out to be a bloody terrible day!"   
  
On Hermione's advice, Harry gave Ginny her space for the rest of breakfast, before going up to the common room to work on the Potions homework he had gotten from McGonogall the night before. That class, by the way, was going pretty well so far. He had received an "Exceeds Expectations" on his reversal potion.   
  
When he saw Ginny at lunch, he apologized to her for not telling her about his plans. He promised that he'd be more open with her in the future. And he meant it too. Aside from the fact that he didn't like being in trouble, he really didn't want Ginny to be upset. Ginny must have noticed his good intentions, because she accepted his apology.   
  
Saturday afternoon saw the Gryffindor Quidditch team kick off its practice schedule. To allow everybody to practice, Harry had all the Chasers try to score on Ron, while one beater tried to help the scoring team, and the other the defending team. Harry simply went about releasing and catching the Snitch and also critiquing the performance of his teammates. He knew that since his team was primarily new, he was going to have to work with them a lot. But he thought that they showed moderate improvement after only just a few hours of practice that Saturday afternoon.  
  
And, despite Harry's concerns, Colin Creevey behaved himself quite well while he was watching the Quidditch practice.   
  
It was only after the practice that he ended up getting himself into trouble.  
  
Despite the headmaster's orders about not being on the grounds unaccompanied, Colin had apparently decided to go back to the castle by himself when the Quidditch players were changing their robes. This was not the extent of Colin's problems however.   
  
It was about dinner time when the team got done practicing, but Harry wanted to go to the library to check out a book about potions to help him with McGonogall's latest assignment.   
  
When Harry notified Ginny and Ron to go ahead without him and that he'd be at dinner a few minutes late, just as soon as he got back from the library, Ron just shook his head and said, "Harry, Hermione's starting to rub off on you. Just promise me one thing." Harry half expected Ron to say something stupid about not sneaking around by himself at night or something, but Ron just said, "You are not, under any circumstances, to read Hogwarts, A History. Understood?"  
  
"Yeah," said Harry, laughing, as he made his way up to the library.  
  
However, in one of the side corridors that he passed on the way there, he noticed a scene that demanded his immediate attention. Malfoy was standing in the hallway, pointing a wand at none other than Colin Creevey.   
  
Harry had his own wand pulled by the time that Malfoy notice him, and both got ready to duel, Colin backing off to the side. "Look, Malfoy, just put your wand down," said Harry, who did not want a teacher to walk in on this scene that would probably land all three of them in detentions.  
  
"Not a chance, Potter," drawled Malfoy. It's just you and me now. It's payback time."  
  
Harry wanted more than anything to hex Malfoy into next Tuesday, but he knew it would be hard to explain Malfoy's injuries to the school nurse. So instead, Harry said, "Debilitatus!"  
  
Malfoy, who had never learned this spell, attempted to cast a curse to give Harry painful boils, and was surprised to find it not work at all. He stood there for half a second, looking confused. Harry was about to stun Malfoy, but by this time Colin had managed to pull out his wand. He stepped in between Malfoy and Harry. "I'll help," he volunteered eagerly, and pointed his wand at Malfoy, and performed a stunning spell before Malfoy had a chance to react.   
  
Unfortunately, Colin's wand had been pointing in the wrong direction. The spell hit Harry.   
  
"I'm so sorry," said Colin, blushing. "I didn't mean to do that!" He turned his wand around, but by this time Malfoy had regained his bearings.   
  
"Expelliarmus!" he said, causing Colin's wand to go flying. He was about to set his sights on Harry when footsteps were heard coming up the corridor. The footsteps belonged to none other than Professor Tonks. Harry was grateful for the intervention. 


	9. Apologies

Chapter 9 (For real this time)  
  
Apologies  
  
"I was just trying to go to the library," explained Harry, upon being asked by Tonks what he was doing standing in the middle of the corridor with his wand pointed at Malfoy. "Malfoy was trying to hurt Colin, and I tried to intervene. I almost had everything under control, but then Colin misfired a spell. If it wasn't for the Disabling Charm, Malfoy would've done some really nasty things to me!" He hoped this bit of news would provoke Tonks to encourage Dumbledore to expel Malfoy from the school, or at least land him in detention.  
  
"That's not true!" exclaimed Malfoy. "I was minding my own business, and Potter attacked me! Then Creevey here came by, but he wasn't involved in the fight."  
  
Harry was completely surprised at this lie. It wasn't that he thought Malfoy was morally above the act of lying. Harry didn't believe Malfoy to be morally above anything. It just seemed like a useless action, because Harry could think of no way that Tonks would believe Malfoy over Harry. But Harry had not counted on Colin.  
  
"Malfoy's telling the truth," claimed Colin, in a terrified tone of voice, looking at Malfoy. "Or at least, I believe he is. All I know for sure is that when I got here, Malfoy and Harry were pointing their wands at each other. And then Malfoy defended himself with a stunning charm. That's all I saw." Colin finished.  
  
Tonks looked mortally confused. "Are you sure that's the story you want to stick with Colin? You know, you don't have to be frightened of Malfoy getting even with you if you rat him out. We can protect you."  
  
"I told you what I saw," said Colin, fighting against revealing the fear that was still present in his voice. "If I changed my story, I'd just be lying."  
  
"Well," Tonks responded, at great length, "as I didn't really see with my own eyes what actually happened, and all we've got here is circumstantial evidence, I can't really punish anybody."  
  
Malfoy looked relatively pleased about this outcome, Colin still looked rather frightened, but Harry looked absolutely furious.  
  
"Well," Tonks said, "Malfoy and Potter, you two ought to go your separate ways. I'll wait here to make sure neither of you start anything right now."  
  
Harry went off toward the library. One minute after he got there, Colin came in as well, and sat down next to Harry. Harry considered getting up to leave Colin sitting by himself, but Colin immediately said, "I'm sorry, Harry. I was really scared that Malfoy would hurt me if I got him in trouble. And even if they expelled him, Crabbe and Goyle would be able to hurt me. And I figured you'd forgive me quicker than Malfoy and his friends would."   
  
As angry as Harry was, he had to admit that Colin had a pretty good point there. Ultimately, Harry's characteristic good nature won out, and he decided that he would not do anything cruel like try to perform the Cruciatus Curse or something on him.   
  
Soon enough, he was down in the Great Hall explaining the entire confusing episode to Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.   
  
"That's it!" exclaimed Hermione after he was done telling the story. "That's the last time you go anywhere without at least one of us with you! Malfoy really could've hurt you!"  
  
"All he was going to do was give me boils," Harry started to protest. However, Harry then reflected that he really didn't know whether Malfoy would've had worse curses in store for him if that one had gotten through. Besides, he didn't really want to be given the boils anyway, so he ultimately consented to being escorted around by his friends. "But I just want to make it clear that I'm only letting you do this because you really seem want to, and I don't want to risk my friendship over pride. I am not, however, actually scared of Malfoy. If I can take on Dementors, I can take on Malfoy."  
  
"We know you're not scared," said Ron, "we just want to make sure Malfoy doesn't take advantage of that fact."  
  
"Yeah," said Ginny. "We know that you're immune to fear!" Her tone of voice here was sarcastic, but Harry noticed, by something in her eyes, that on some level, Ginny really believed the statement to be true. Harry realized that this really was the reputation that he had built up for himself over the last 5 years. It was going to be one heck of a reputation to live up to.   
  
Thus, the first two weeks of school were at an end. Everybody was beginning to settle into the weekly rhythm of school, even Hermione, who had ended up taking McGonnogal's maximum recommended number of courses, seven, which included all of the courses Harry was taking, plus Potions with Snape, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes.   
  
When Harry asked her what possible purpose Ancient Runes could serve for someone who was planning to become a member of the Ministry of Magic, she had to admit that she wasn't really sure, but still enjoyed the challenge of the course, and claimed that it helped her to better understand language in general. Ron contended that she was simply a masochist.  
  
On Tuesday night, Harry had his first detention with Tonks, which proved to be infinitely more pleasant than his detentions with Umbridge, the last DADA teacher.   
  
"I see no use in wasting your time here," Tonks said at the beginning of the detention, "so we're going to practice DADA here during these detentions. Tonight, I want to test your dueling skills, so we will have a series of duels. In these duels, there are only 4 spells permissible: Disarming, stunning, petrifying, and a simple marking curse which I am about to teach you. This spell will simply put a black dot on the forehead of the cursed, but we will consider this the object of the duel, as this will lead to less actual physical pain than using real curses. The object here is more along the lines of working on your speed rather than on your range of curses and counter-curses. We'll work on that later."  
  
So she taught him the marking curse, then they began a series of duels. There were 10 in all, and Harry was quite pleased at winning a total of five of these, which Harry decided was a decent accomplishment against a wizard so much more experienced than himself. After this, Tonks advised him to look through his DADA book to find spells that he wanted to practice during the next detention. Over all, the detention lasted an hour and a half, and Harry left fairly pleased with how Tonks was handling her teaching position.  
  
"You almost seemed to enjoy this detention, Harry," she said as he was about to leave.  
  
"Well, I really do enjoy working on Defense Against the Dark Arts," admitted Harry.  
  
"There's no reason you should be rewarded for sneaking into my classroom," said Tonks. Harry was afraid for a moment that she was going to pronounce that his next detention would contain more serious punishments, but instead she said, "So to make sure that you're not getting any more opportunities than your well-behaved class-mates, maybe we should have a student-directed Defense Against the Dark Arts club here on Tuesday evenings. You could help lead the club. Of course, you have the option of simply fulfilling your detentions instead," stated Tonks.  
  
"I like your suggestion better," said Harry at once, coming to the conclusion at that moment that Tonks was one of the best teachers Harry could have hoped for, on the level of Remus Lupin. 


	10. Neville's Misfortune

A/N I'd just like to thank everyone who's been reading up to this point, and especially anyone who has given reviews. I'm not really sure whether this chapter is going to go over well, so I'd especially like some feedback here. Thanks again to anyone who's taken the time to read this!  
  
Chapter 10  
  
Neville's Misfortune  
  
Quidditch practice that Wednesday went well enough, even though Colin tried to show up to watch again. However, Harry immediately told Colin to leave (there was really no way he could be trusted any more, after he had lied in Malfoy's favor) because they were actually going to start making up plays and plans for their first game, even though it was still a month and a half away.  
  
Thursday night, Potions went well. When Harry was done with his lesson, however; he was somewhat annoyed to find that Ron and Hermione were waiting for him outside McGonnogal's room. Apparently, they had been serious about not letting him walk anywhere alone, for fear that Malfoy would try to attack him again.  
  
"You know, you really don't need to worry so much," said Harry, showing some frustration.  
  
"Well, we're not worried now, as we're walking with you. The three of us should be safe," said Hermione.  
  
Ron just remained silent, as if he was somewhat embarrassed to be defying his friend's wishes by trying to protect him, but he still felt it necessary to do so.   
  
So, grudgingly, Harry accepted the situation. After all, walking with Hermione and Ron was better than being in an argument with them, but the whole situation was still somewhat embarrassing.   
  
It turned out, however, that Harry was not the person that Hermione should have been worried about getting hurt. Moments after Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gotten to the common room, taking seats near where Ginny had been sitting, Neville came running into the common room.   
  
Or at least most of him did.   
  
He was missing his arms. "Malfoy hexed my arms off!" he screamed, in frustration and embarrassment.  
  
"Does it hurt?" asked Hermione, who had never even heard of this curse before, and didn't really know the nature of the spell.  
  
"A little bit, by the shoulders. But he hexed me, and then left me there with my arms on the floor. And of course, I couldn't pick them up. I don't know the counter-curse and couldn't' use my wand if I did-"  
  
"Calm down Neville, we'll take you to the nurse," said Hermione, and soon, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville were all walking down the corridor to the nurse's office.  
  
When they got there, Madame Pomfrey took one look at Neville, and said, "Well, where are his arms?"  
  
"They got hexed off," responded Ron immediately.  
  
"No, I mean, where are the now, I can't reattach them if I don't have them," responded Madame Pomfrey shortly.  
  
Neville explained that he had left them near the library. Ron and Harry volunteered to retrieve them, while the others stayed there with Neville.  
  
"Malfoy's gone too far this time!" Ron stated as they walked.  
  
"You're right, but I bet he gets away with this just like he always gets away with things. No teachers saw him or anything, and I'm sure he'll have an alibi. But he'd pay if I saw him by himself in a corridor!" Harry said. He had not, however, really thought his wish would come true, and so was extremely surprised when they met him right outside the library.  
  
Harry began to draw his wand, as did Ron, but Malfoy already had his own wand trained on Harry, and spoke in his characteristic, slow drawl. "If you draw your wand, I'll curse you both before you have a chance to do anything. Instead, why don't you meet me out on the Quidditch pitch in 20 minutes, after you've gotten your friend's arms reattached," he smirked, gesturing at the arms on the floor. "I'll duel Harry, and Goyle can duel Ron. Unless you'd rather to duel Crabbe. Anyway, they'll both be there, so you can take your pick. Or are you too frightened to duel me?" concluded Malfoy coolly.   
  
"We'll be there," responded Harry abruptly, before Ron had a chance to object.   
  
They picked up Neville's arms and started back to the infirmary.   
  
Ron's mind was racing. He couldn't decide whether he should go to the duel with Harry. After all, it seemed quite clear that Harry would go, just to get even with Malfoy, unless he was physically restrained. And if Ron told Hermione and Ginny, they'd tell Harry not to go, but he'd probably do it anyway. Unless Hermione opted to get a teacher involved. You never really could tell with her. Ron ultimately decided that he owed it to Harry to come with him, especially because Malfoy really did deserve to get beat at a duel. They could win this battle too, after all, it was only Malfoy.   
  
After they had given the arms back to Neville, they waited for them to be put back on, figuring that they really couldn't leave before this had been done at least. As Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Harry were walking back to the common room, Harry figured that about ten minutes had passed since he had promised Malfoy he'd meet him on the Quidditch pitch. Harry thought, well if I'm going to do this, we've got to leave right now, there's really no time to go back to the common room.  
  
He had been having slight misgivings about going at all, as he had promised so many people (Tonks, Lupin, Hermione, Ginny) that he wouldn't do anything stupid. But, it was still before curfew, so the chances that he would get caught were slim, plus if he really screwed Malfoy over in a duel now, he would stop messing with them. Of course, Harry didn't really believe that Malfoy would stop harassing Gryffindors as long as he was in the school, the real issue at stake here, Harry had to admit to himself, was pride. But that didn't mean that he was able to resist going.  
  
Spotting a bathroom, Harry got an idea, "I've got to use the toilet, I'll be back in the common room in a couple of minutes," he said.  
  
It took Ron a second or two, but he got his cue and said, "Erm, yeah, me too."  
  
They walked toward the bathroom, which was in the opposite direction of the common room, but then continued walking toward the outer doors, after making sure Hermione and Ginny were out of sight.   
  
Once they got outside, they figured they were probably going to be late for the duel if they didn't run the rest of the way to the pitch, so that's what they did. It was already dark out, but they spotted the forms of Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy in the field.   
  
But before the even waiting for Harry or Ron to be ready to duel, Malfoy pointed his wand at Ron and shouted "Expelliarmus!"  
  
Harry pointed his wand at Malfoy, but was then distracted by the fact that a mouse that had previously been unnoticed on the Quidditch pitch turned into none other than Peter Pettigrew, to whom Malfoy immediately tossed an extra wand, which he had been holding in his cloak. 


	11. Wily Wormtail

A/N: Thanks to any returning readers, and I just want to offer an apology for the fact that it's been several months since my last update. My updates should become more regular now, considering that school's starting to wind down, and also I'm getting senioritis and so I don't care as much about school right now anyway. Whether a returning reader or someone reading this for the first time, I appreciate the time you took in reading this and would like to point out that it will take only 30 more seconds to write a review (please). Tell me whether you liked the story or not, and tell me what I'm doing wrong and what (if anything) I'm doing right. Thanks! :)  
  
Chapter 11  
  
Wily Wormtail   
  
Harry wanted to yell in frustration at his own stupidity. He was really going to have to stop getting into situations like this. The question of the likelihood of Wormtail actually being Tonks in disguise crossed Harry's mind hopefully. He quickly discounted this line of reasoning on the grounds that Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle could not also be Tonks in disguise so the entire argument fell through.   
  
Harry glanced at Ron, who was just kind of standing there terrified, seemingly too shocked even to recover his wand from the pitch. "Pick up your wand!" Harry yelled, somewhat surprised that he was able to take command in such a stressful situation.   
  
Ron bent down, but at the same time, Wormtail yelled "Accio!" summoning Ron's wand to himself.   
  
At this point, Harry shouted, "Expelliarmus!" in the general direction of Wormtail. This caused Wormtail's wand to fly as did Ron's. Ron dove for his wand again, but as he was doing this, Malfoy yelled "Petrificus Totalus!" and Ron fell rigid to the ground.  
  
Harry froze for a split second due to indecision regarding whether he should perform the reversal on Ron or disarm his adversaries first. He was almost at the point of giving into despair at the seemingly hopeless 4 to 1 odds when Crabbe and Goyle simply turned tail and ran for no immediately discernible reason.   
  
Malfoy turned to watch their departure, his face so full of confusion, frustration, and anger at the desertion of his subordinates that he looked as if his head might explode. Harry decided that if he was going to act, he had to do it now before taking time to analyze the situation. Deciding that the disarming curse was a little bit trite at the moment, he shot a spell at Wormtail that caused him to develop a sudden and painful rash all over his body, figuring that this should distract him enough to render his wand at least temporarily ineffective.   
  
At that point, Harry heard over his shoulder two female voices yell "Expelliarmus!" causing everyone in the general vicinity who had a wand at the moment to lose it. Harry began to search for his wand, which was harder than it would have been several minutes ago as the sky was rapidly darkening. Even as he was searching, Harry was extremely grateful for the presence Hermione and Ginny, whom he had determined to be the owners of the voices. That explained why Crabbe and Goyle had fled, apparently deciding that they did not have a shot in an even battle.   
  
Pettigrew picked up his wand, but by the time he had, the girls were by Harry's side. Hermione quickly un-petrified Ron as Harry was struck with the realization that it had only been approximately one minute since he had arrived at the Quidditch Pitch but that minute had been one of the most interesting of his life. Things immediately got more interesting. Wormtail had just performed the counter-hex to that which Harry had dealt him, and immediately turned his wand on Malfoy.   
  
He cursed Malfoy three different times before bolting away at a run, leaving Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny, looking at the fleeing form in just about as confused a state as any of them had ever experienced. Each were too stunned to launch curses at the fleeing form.  
  
Malfoy was lying on the pitch unconscious from the rapid-fire magical beating he had just received. Hermione was the first to make sense of the situation, "Oh!" she said in the same "that was obvious" tone of voice as she would have used had she just realized the reason that one of her potions was a shade of orange instead of a shade of green, "Now Malfoy looks like the victim! We have to either take him to the nurse, or leave him here, but either way, it will be impossible to prove that Malfoy was the aggressor because people would be reluctant to believe that even Malfoy would be stupid enough to wander down onto a Quidditch pitch into a situation that would get him so badly hexed!"   
  
"Yeah," said Ginny, "Malfoy's not stupid enough to wander unwittingly into a dangerously lopsided dual on a deserted Quidditch pitch at night, but apparently these two are!" She gestured violently at Harry and Ron.   
  
Now, Harry was not completely stupid. He realized that what he had just done was absolutely dumb and that he should have known better than to trust Malfoy to have behaved honorably in a dual. But, for some reason, he seemed to think that it would not be a good idea to admit this to Ginny.  
  
"I did what I had to do!" he said defensively. "If I hadn't showed up here, Malfoy would know that he could just go around cursing people like Nelville in the hall without repercussions! Plus, he would have thought I was a coward!"  
  
"And now he just knows that you're stupid!" countered Ginny angrily. "And I know that you're a liar! You said that you were going to tell me things before you did them from now on!"  
  
Harry felt ashamed at the truth of this last statement, and so he offered what he meant as an apology. "Well, look, I felt like I had to go, and if you knew I was going you'd have come with me, right?"  
  
"I suppose so," said Ginny, "If I couldn't convince you not to go."  
  
"Well, I couldn't let you get involved in a situation where you might get hurt," reasoned Harry, once again, believing that he was apologizing.   
  
Ginny took offense. "Wait, you figured that without me here, you could take Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle on, but with me, there'd be a problem?"  
  
"Well, if you were here, maybe Malfoy would have set Goyle on you while Ron and I took on he and Crabbe. Or else maybe Malfoy could've cursed you to hurt me through hurting you…"  
  
"So you don't think I can take care of myself? But you think Ron can take care of himself? What are you sexist?" asked Ginny, her face brightening to a shade similar to that of her hair.   
  
"No I just…" his voice trailed off. He wasn't exactly sure how to explain. He wanted to protect Ginny. That had been the same reason that he had not told Ginny before he went off on his late night adventure that had landed him in a dual in Tonks' office. It wasn't because she was a girl, he usually told Hermione his plots. Maybe it was just the fact that after rescuing Ginny from the clutches of the basilisk in her first year, he felt that she needed protected. However, he realized almost immediately that if he had to have this feeling, it was not a feeling that he should have shared. This realization was reinforced by Ginny's immediate storming away.   
  
"Let me come with you," said Harry, trying once again to be reasonable.   
  
"I can take care of myself!" she yelled, and stormed off across the grounds.   
  
Ron began rushing off after her, on the grounds that she really shouldn't have been running around alone with Pettigrew on the prowl.   
  
Hermione stayed back and gestured to Malfoy saying, "We've got to take him up to Madame Pomfrey."  
  
Harry walked with Hermione back to the castle as Hermione performed the levitation charm to allow Malfoy to trail behind.  
  
"Now it's going to look like we did this to him," said Harry.  
  
"Even if we don't take him, he'll say it was us, and it'll look more suspicious if we just let him out here. If we show some concern for his well-being, then at least it proves that we weren't out to kill him or anything. Plus, if we deliver him while he's still unconscious, then we get the first word and can say that we were acting in self-defense," argued Hermione calmly.  
  
"Brilliant as usual," said Harry somewhat bitterly. "By the way, how'd you know to follow us down to the Quidditch field?"  
  
"Guys never go to the bathroom together," said Hermione smirking a bit. Then, in a more serious tone of voice said, "Although now it looks as if I might have to escort you to the bathroom too, and wait outside for you to be done or something, because apparently you can't even be trusted to go to the bathroom yourself. You could have gotten hurt out there, and you really could have gotten Ginny, Ron, and I hurt too. If you really want to protect Ginny, the best way to do it would be to keep yourself out of trouble, because you know that if you get into trouble, she's just going to have to try to rescue you like she did tonight. You know, sometimes you're so irresponsible. I'd probably stop talking to you now if I didn't have to follow you around everywhere you go."   
  
"If you don't think I'm worth talking to, why save me?" asked Harry bitterly, resenting the fact that he had just alienated Ginny and Hermione in one foul swoop.  
  
"Well, even if you are stupid sometimes, you're one of the best opponents of the Dark Lord. Besides, even though going to the dual was stupid, at least you picked the right enemy. Malfoy was really mean to Nelville, and he's been horrible to me in Arithmancy these past few weeks."  
  
"Well, if we're ever in a fair fight, I'll get him back for you," said Harry, glancing at the unconscious Malfoy, and cursing his sense of honor that prevented him from doing something terrible to him right then. "By the way, do you think Ginny'll ever speak to me again?"   
  
"I'll talk to her on your behalf," Hermione said, "but I can't make any promises. By the way, I trust that now that you see that any fight Malfoy'll draw you into will probably involve Wormtail, you will not go into another dual without telling Ron, Ginny, and me."  
  
"All right," agreed Harry, not anxious to be drawn into another unfair battle.   
  
"And I expect you know that as it seems I can't really trust you, I really will be watching you like Filch from now on, right?"  
  
"Yeah, I know," said Harry in a tone so ashamed and defeated that Hermione couldn't help but feel sympathetic in spite of her anger. 


	12. Hogsmeade Weekend

Chapter 12  
  
Hogsmeade  
  
The next morning, Harry awoke peacefully, then groaned as the memories of what had happened to him the previous night flooded back. Wormtail was at Hogwarts, Malfoy was in the hospital wing, and Ginny was mad.   
  
It still wasn't clear what the consequences were going to be for Hermione and Harry taking an unconscious Malfoy to the hospital wing the previous night. Madame Pomfrey had been so angry about getting another patient so soon after returning Neville's arms to their proper position that she had only told them that she would wait until morning to inform the headmaster of what had occurred.   
  
That day, Harry and Hermione were summoned to Dumbledore's office, but were not punished. Dumbledore told them that since he had not seen the actions that had landed Malfoy in the infirmary, he could not judge between guilt or innocence, but he made Hermione and Harry promise that they would not get in any more duels. Hermione shot Harry a meaningful glance, and both agreed that there would be no more duels.  
  
After that, things stayed fairly quiet at Hogwarts for the rest of September and into October. Harry had been relatively well-behaved, doing his best to avoid confrontation. Malfoy decided to lay off as well, apparently wary that any action that he took could conceivably end with him unconscious on a Quidditch Pitch somewhere.   
  
Ginny had not yet forgiven Harry for his lack of honesty with her, and the two did not communicate much outside of Quidditch practices. Although they Ginny had not officially broken up with him, Harry suspected that she no longer considered him her boyfriend.   
  
Harry and Hermione remained on speaking terms, although she was annoyingly true to her promise of watching him like Filch to make sure that he did not end up getting in any more uneven duals. Overall, Ron was the only one of his friends who was not angry at him, and Harry was exceedingly grateful for that.   
  
Meanwhile, Harry's progress with his Potions studies was coming along as well as could be reasonably expected. McGonnogal was able to teach just as well as Snape was, and by the end of October, Harry was learning more or less the same things at the same time as was Snape's N.E.W.T. class.   
  
Harry's detentions with Tonks had continued, and had developed, as promised, into a Defense Against the Dark Arts style dueling club.   
  
Overall, however, nothing of great import happened until the first Hogsmeade weekend of that year, on the last weekend of October.   
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were making their way toward the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeers when they came across Fred and George Weasley.   
  
"Hey, how's it going guys?" asked Fred, when they all met.  
  
After the basic cordialities were exchanged, George said,  
  
"What's going on with Ginny? We saw her a few minutes ago, and she was just stalking off by herself. I tried to say hi to her, but I don't think she even saw me."  
  
Harry had no idea what was going on, as Ginny had not said anything to him lately, except for making remarks when Harry would instruct her on a drill to do during Quidditch practice. Her remarks would go something like, "Wow, Harry, are you sure that I can handle that all on my own?"   
  
He really didn't think that could have any relationship with what was going on right now, but for some reason Ron and Hermione were looking at him like they expected it was his fault. More to change the subject than anything, Harry pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket. It was one of the magical pieces of parchment that Lupin had gotten him for his birthday, of the kind that Harry was able to write messages to his friends on. He was just explaining to George and Fred the concept of the paper, and was about to suggest that they incorporate it somehow into a product at their joke-shop (perhaps by making a piece of parchment to take tests on that would cause the student's answers to be shared with everyone else in the class) when a message appeared on the paper.   
  
It said simply, "Ginny. At the Shrieking Shack. Need Help!"  
  
In approximately no time, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Fred and George, were setting off at a run for the Shrieking Shack.   
  
When they got there, they burst in through the front door. Had these particular youths been in possession of any less courage than they were, they would have turned tail and run immediately. But these were Gryffindors, and so in spite of the sight that met them, they stood their ground. In the room that opened off the doorway was Ginny, surrounded by 5 dark wizards. Lucius Malfoy, the fathers of Crabbe and Goyle, Wormtail, and Bellatrix Lestrange. Ginny had been disarmed, and as her friends came in, it was obvious that the dark wizards were taking turns hitting her with non-lethal, but still painful, hexes and curses.   
  
Harry quickly sized up the odds as he reached for his wand, aggravated at finding himself in a life-or-death situation for the third time in two months. Although his thoughts were becoming less than coherent as a result of his adrenaline rush, he just had time to register that at least this time, the duel wasn't his fault.   
  
The battle would be 5 to 5. On his side were some of the best wizards he had ever met, but they had considerably less experience than their dark opponents. Luckily, they had a brief upper hand due to the fact that they had caught the dark wizards by surprise.   
  
"Expelliarmus!" yelled Harry, aiming at Lestrange, who he considered to be the most dangerous wizard of the group, if only because she had been the one who had finished off Sirius. At that thought, Harry realized that he was fighting here not only to save Ginny (and himself) but also to avenge Sirius.  
  
Unfortunately, Lestrange was able to recover her wand almost immediately, and Harry's shout had spent the element of surprise. The battle was on.  
  
Each of the dark wizards found a youth to square off against. Lestrange took on Harry, Crabbe and Goyle faced the twins, Wormtail faced Ron, and Lucius, after treating Ginny to a spell that rendered her unconscious, battled Hermione.   
  
Harkening back to the last time he had fought Bellatrix Lestrange (or Tonks disguised as Lestrange) Harry yelled "Debilatus" to prevent Lestrange from hurting him. Following his lead, Ron and Hermione did the same thing. Luckily, it seemed as if none of the dark wizards had encountered this spell before, and so they continued to try to use pain-inducing curses, which were rendered ineffective. This gave Ron, Hermione, and Harry enough time to petrify their opponents. Thus, the odds were considerably tilted in the young wizards' favor, leaving only Crabbe and Goyle to deal with. They were dealt with in short order.   
  
Hermione quickly revived Ginny. The 6 young wizards looked around with satisfaction at the 5 petrified dark wizards standing around them. They were just about to levitate the bodies of the dark wizards in order to take them into Hogsmeade so that they could all be transported back to Azkaban when a noise at the door caused them to stop short.   
  
The door opened. Draco Malfoy, the younger Crabbe and Goyle, and several of their Slytherin friends were at the door. There were ten of them all together. Harry's group was outnumbered almost two to one. Besides that, neither himself, Ron, nor Hermione were able to perform any pain inducing curses for the next 24 hours. This would be a tough battle to win.  
  
However, Malfoy seemed to be less than confident as a result of his last run-in with Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron, and so said, "We'll let you go this time." He seemed to realize that the Gryffindor contingent was much more experienced than his Slytherin battalion. The odds would be tight.   
  
With a sense of defeat almost as great as if he had just lost a Quidditch match, Harry realized that he would be stupid to take on such a fight. He thought he had a shot at winning it, but he knew that if he was wrong, the cost could be death. Besides, with 10 Slytherins there, it would not take long for them to un-petrify the dark wizards, at which point it would be 15 to 6 odds.   
  
With great anguish, Harry led his friends out the back door of the Shrieking Shack, keeping his wand trained on Malfoy in case he broke his word, cursing himself for allowing Lestrange to remain free. 


	13. Conspiracy

Chapter 13  
  
Conspiracy  
  
As they left the Shrieking Shack, Fred and George were shaking their heads in disbelief. "You know, I can't believe we just got outsmarted by Malfoys!" exclaimed Fred disapprovingly.  
  
"Yeah, how did that happen anyway? How'd they get you in there, Ginny?" asked Ron, sounding concerned and curious.  
  
"Well, I-" Ginny hesitated, "… I don't want to talk about it."  
  
"Yeah, what happened?" registered Fred.  
  
Ginny was flushing madly, looking as if she was about to cry. "Oh, I can't believe I was so stupid! I probably shouldn't even be telling you this…" she trailed off.  
  
Harry was now getting rather concerned. In a sympathetic voice, he said, "Come on, it can't be that bad. You can tell us."  
  
Ginny let out a sigh of frustration before saying, "Malfoy baited me into it. As soon as we got here, he said, 'Ginny, you and Potter make a nice couple, but it looks as if you'll be carrying the wand in the family. The way you and Hermione had to come and rescue him last month, it was rather pathetic.' I know I should have been able to resist the jab, but Malfoy is just so cocky, and he was acting as if Harry was at fault for Malfoy having rigged an unfair duel. So I told him that I could beat him in a fair duel. And so I agreed to duel him."  
  
At this point in the story, Hermione gasped and looked over at Ginny in a way that conveyed shock and disappointment at the stupidity of the action. Ron looked respectfully at his sister, as did Fred and George. "Stupid," commented Fred, "but brave."  
  
As this conversation was occurring, the 6 young Gryffindors (current and former) were walking away from the Shrieking Shack toward Hogsmeade. Harry was looking back every once in a while, just to make sure that nobody was following them to sneak up from behind, and so he saw as several forms retreated in the other direction.  
  
"Just like a Weasley," commented George, patting Ginny on the shoulder, "letting anger win out over reason."  
  
"I know that this is just the sort of thing that I was mad at you for doing," Ginny said to Harry, "but I told him that the only way we were going to be able to do it was if he let me pick the place, and if I was able to watch to make sure nobody was following him to where we were going. I picked the Shrieking Shack randomly as a place to go, and there's no way he could've known ahead of time that that's where I was going to pick. I figure he must've had some kind of secret communication spell that allowed him to tell the others where he'd be. Once we got there, the Dark Wizards were there, they must have apparated. I just had time to scribble that note onto that parchment from the inside of my pocket. I didn't even have time to ink the quill or anything, it must transfer messages just on quill pressure and not ink. Anyway, then Malfoy went to get the others, and their plan must've been to torture me before killing me. I'm so glad you guys got there when you did!" It was at this point that she started crying.  
  
"I'm glad too," echoed Harry, who, looking at her, was able to see that helpless girl who he had rescued from the Basilisk during his second year. But he was also able to see the part of Ginny that he… well… he hadn't really thought about it before, but he supposed that love really might be the right term. That noble, defiant, talented young witch who was also sweet and caring. And she had almost died trying to protect his honor.  
  
Harry noticed that the others had increased their speed a little bit, to give him and Ginny some room to talk. He took advantage of the opportunity, "Look, we'll figure out someway to get Malfoy back. And anything that I plan on doing, I promise that I'll tell you first. Just promise me that you'll tell me before you go off dueling anybody again."  
  
Ginny's tears were lessening, and she was beginning to regain the ability of coherent speech. "I promise. I would have told you before I did this too, except that I wanted to prove that I can take care of myself. Kind of backfired though," she smiled slightly at the irony.   
  
"Are we… Are we all right then?" asked Harry. Having just recognized the possibility that he might love her, Harry felt that right now would not be a good time for his relationship with Ginny to end. Granted, he wasn't too certain about the love thing, but this was certainly on a different level than his relationship with Cho had been (although curiously, now with the crying episode, they were beginning to seem more alike). Still, he would definitely prefer to continue the relationship to see where it would lead.  
  
"Assuming that you're all right with me," said Ginny. They exchanged a quick hug before taking a couple quick running steps to catch back up with the rest of the group.  
  
"Well," said Harry, "next weekend's our first Quidditch match-- against Slytherin. We'll have to get them back there. Think we can look forward to a shut-out?" asked Harry, addressing Ron.  
  
"Oh yeah. Those Slytherin's couldn't fly if they were glued to their brooms. And if they're still using Crabbe and Goyle as their Beaters… Frankly, I'm more worried about Hufflepuff!"  
  
They all laughed at this, except for Hermione, who just smiled.   
  
"Oh, guys, hope you don't mind," said George slyly, "but we're going to come watch the game too. Get back on the grounds, reminisce about old times, do a little bit of advertisement for Weasley Wizard Wheezes. And of course, figure out a way to get into the Slytherin lockers and pull a little pre-game prank."  
  
Hermione looked at the twins disapprovingly, but everybody else nodded excitingly.   
  
When they got back to the castle that night, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Harry huddled in a corner of the common room, trying to come up with a more practical plan on how to get back at Malfoy, the Slytherins, and the Deatheaters.   
  
After a few minutes of exchanging ideas, Hermione came up with one. "Well, I know of this potion… I found out about it doing independent research over the summer…"  
  
Harry glanced at Ron, who looked as if he was about to throw up at this reference to voluntary summer work.  
  
"But it's extremely forbidden and the ingredients are really hard to come by. It's a mind-reading potion. One version must be given to the reader, and a slightly different one to the person to be read. Anyway, if we were to give one to Malfoy, we could figure out how he's been contacting Wormtail… Maybe even find out where Lestrange is staying.   
  
"I'm in," said Harry without hesitation. Sure, maybe such a potion sounded a little drastic, but at least this time Hermione was on his side in the drastic action. Lately, he had become more concerned about being in trouble with his friends than being in trouble with the school.   
  
Ron seemed as if he was holding some reservations. Perhaps he was being corrupted into good behavior because of his prefect duties. But he seemed half convinced just by the fact that Hermione was proposing the idea. "I'm really no good at potions," said Ron tentatively.  
  
Then, Ginny jumped in and said that she would help. Being physically unable to be shown up by his little sister in the category of rule-breaking, Ron had no choice but to join the potions making team. 


	14. Gryffindor v Slytherin

A/N: Okay... This time I'm really back from hiatus. I've got a loose-framework for the rest of the story, and I'll definitely update regularly now (especially since after next week, I'm done with freshman year of college and should have some more time on my hands). The more reviews I get, the faster I'll update... Not that I'm trying to bribe you or anything... ; ) By the way, I've been having some insane problems with formatting... so if there's anything wrong with this chapter, it is not my fault.

Chapter 14 Gryffindor v. Slytherin

On Saturday night, it was hard for Harry to sleep. Thoughts of the day's battle kept running through his mind. He kept running over the odds in his head and wondered if it would have been possible for him to lead his friends to victory against the Slytherins that day. Malfoy must have been unsure about his own odds, or he would not have allowed them to go. But it was almost certain that if the fighting had resumed, the Slytherins would have used unforgivable curses, and possibly killed the Gryffindors.

Regardless of which side won, it would have been likely that at least one of the Gryffindors would have died in an all-out battle, which was certainly the kind that would have been offered by the Slytherins. So, overall, Harry was confident that he had made the right decision, but he was still extremely bitter about having to let the death-eaters go free. Harry was so angry for Malfoy's apparently instrumental part in the entire plot that he had a hard time restraining himself from pulling his wand on him the next morning when he saw him in the dining hall.

Ginny saw him looking in the Slytherin's direction, she just said, "Look, don't pick a fight with him now, all right? We'll get back at them in a way that won't get us expelled."

"He tried to kill you, and you're worried about being expelled?" asked Harry irritably.

"Just relax. Remember, if you get expelled, you'll have to live with the Dursleys for the next 2 years. Is Malfoy really worth that?" asked Ron, who was sitting nearby.

"I wasn't going to do anything to him anyway," said Harry, defensively. "I'm not stupid enough to try anything in the Great Hall, all right?" "I'm glad to hear it," said Hermione.

Later on that day, in the common room, they began work on the mind-reading potion, or at least began to the extent that they looked up the potions in one of Hermione's books.

"You weren't kidding about the ingredients being rare," acknowledged Harry. "I've never even heard of half these things. How're we going to get any of this stuff?"

"Well, even though some of these things are very rare, McGonnogal and Snape should have all of them in their cupboards," Hermione said.

"Fat lot of help that'll do," complained Ron. "Like they're just going to give us ingredients to make an illegal potion to read someone's mind with."

"Of course not," agreed Hermione, "but maybe they'll give us the ingredients if we say we're trying to make another potion. For instance, there's one potion that is sometimes used on the N.E.W.T's that people can drink to allow them to pass through solid objects. It has 3 ingredients in common with this potion. If you ask McGonnogal to teach you how to make this potion, then you can just pinch some of these ingredients off the top. There's another potion that I'll ask Snape if I can make as an extra-assignment over next weekend, and that'll give me another of the two ingredients. The rest are pretty common, and I can get them off of the general ingredients rack next time I have Potions."

"Do you really think Snape will let you come in for an extra class? He really doesn't like you much does he?" asked Harry.

"Well, he hasn't been getting on my case as much since you and Ron aren't in the class anymore, and how could any professor resist a student wanting to do extra work?" asked Hermione.

"Well, I hope it works," registered Ginny.

When Saturday came, it was time for the first Quidditch match of the season. At the pre-game pep-talk, Harry gave some peppy remarks, concluding with, "All right, guys, no allowing the Slytherins to provoke anyone into fighting them. If they try to harass us, it's just because they know we can beat them otherwise. We've practiced for this for months, and we all know that the Slytherins are far better at shooting off their mouths than shooting quaffles. So let's get out there and stomp some snakes!"

True to their word, the twins were there, giving free prank-supplies to anyone in the stands dressed in red and gold. The Gryffindors took to the field before the Slytherins, and so they were in the perfect position to laugh when the Slytherins showed up wearing very angry expressions along with robes that, although remaining faithful to the green and silver color-scheme, had been altered to sport such slogans as "Gryffindor Quidditch Rules," "Nothing Gets by Weasley" and "Slytherin Quidditch, Simply the Worst."

Harry wasn't exactly sure what the twins had done to charm the robes, but apparently the Slytherins could not figure out how to reverse the spell. Madame Hooch attempted to reverse the spells, but found that it would be impossible to do so.

Looking irritated, she said, "Well, I guess you'll just have to play like that then."

When the captains were told to shake hands, Harry laughed and said to Malfoy, "Well, I guess just because you're stuck playing for Slytherin doesn't mean you have to root for yourselves… You know, we'd still let you forfeit now if you want," added Harry brightly.

Malfoy, clearly not in the mood to joke around, said nothing, but squeezed Harry's hand to the point of causing pain before quickly disengaging. Moments later, all the brooms were mounted, and Harry and Malfoy each began to circle the pitch.

Harry was grateful for the weather, which was about the best Quidditch weather that could be asked for. It was a clear day and there was just a slight chill in the air. Harry's eyes kept struggling to take in as much of the area as often as possible, so he wasn't really watching the game.

He only heard from the announcer (Lee Jordan had been replaced by a lively Hufflepuff fifth-year with a flair for entertainment named Gerald Rosser ) what the score was. Before long, it was 40-10 in Gryffindor's favor, Ron making 3 spectacular (at least according to Gerald, who seemed to be almost as biased against Slytherin as Harry was) saves and Ginny scoring 2 of the four Gryffindor goals. As Harry scanned the air below him again, he felt pride in how his team was playing so far, and reflected that if they lost, it would not be due to anyone but him.

He glanced at Draco once again to see if he had seen anything. However, Malfoy was still looking around in just as much frustration as Harry. Harry heard from Gerald that Ginny had the Quaffle again, and allowed his eyes to linger on her for a moment while she rushed down the field.

He justified this by the thought that it was strictly possible that the Snitch would be right down there in the thick of the action, even though it normally tried to stay away from people (Harry laughed at himself for how in depth he presumed to be able to go into Snitch-psychology). Ginny made the goal easily, and Harry looked up to Malfoy again as the crowd roared in favor of Gryffindor.

Right after Harry looked at Malfoy, the boy began to go into a dive. Harry immediately cursed himself for breaking his determined scanning for the Snitch to admire his girlfriend's ability to make a goal. He tried to determine where it was that Malfoy was angling himself toward so that he could get wherever it was before him. Harry prepared to dive as well.

But even as he got ready to make this desperate dive for a Snitch that he still couldn't see, Harry's mind was racing. It was awfully coincidental that Malfoy had dived just as Harry looked up, wasn't it? And why could Harry still not see the Snitch that Malfoy was diving for?

Looking back at Malfoy, Harry noticed him look up toward Harry again. Something wasn't right about that, Harry thought. Malfoy had enough of a head-start that he should be able to grab the snitch before Harry got there, so there was no reason for Malfoy to take his eyes off the snitch to trace his progress… Unless he was making sure that Harry was diving too. Harry realized suddenly that Malfoy was attempting a feint.

And of course, the only reason that Malfoy could have for doing that would be if the Snitch were closer to Harry than it was to Malfoy. Harry quickly whipped his broom around, and sure enough, he saw the Snitch a mere 20 yards to his back-left.

The Snitch, seeming to realize it had been spotted, attempted to fly off, but Harry was in hot-pursuit. Malfoy, having just pulled out of his feint, was desperately behind. Harry didn't even look back to see whether Malfoy was gaining as he chased the Snitch, which was fleeing behind the Slytherin goal-post.

Harry was about to reach out and grab the Snitch when he noticed that a Bludger was coming on an exact collision course with him. However, he was going at such a high-speed that he knew if he veered, he'd have to chase the Snitch back down again, and by that time, Malfoy might have it. So Harry braced himself for pain and reached out for the Snitch.

At the exact moment he grabbed it, he felt a sharp pain thud into his calf. That would be the Bludger.

Still, Harry hardly felt the pain as he eased his broom back down to the pitch to the cheers of the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs in the stands. Draco looked terribly angry, but Harry thought he should have known better… Harry was practically the master of feinting… Harry reflected that even if Malfoy had been able to trick him into an unfair duel earlier that semester, Malfoy should have known better than to try to bamboozle him in his own element, a Quidditch Match. 


	15. Defense Club

Disclaimer: Obviously, I'm not J.K. Rowling. See, my name is Gryffindor777. I suppose I really should have put this in the first chapter, but it's really no use going back and revising it now. Besides, if you were really under the impression that I was J.K. Rowling for the first three chapters, then I'm really surprised that you're even smart enough to be literate. Anyway, that being said...

Chapter 15 Defense Club

"Two hundred to ten!" Ron exclaimed, "quite a game, I'd say!"

"Sorry, about not deflecting that Bludger from you Harry," apologized Jack, glancing at Harry's leg, where the Bludger had hit,

"I didn't see it coming at you!"

"Me neither," seconded Andrew Kirke.

"No problem, guys, you can't protect me all the time," said Harry laughing. Besides, he could certainly identify with the idea of soembody missing something in a quidditch game. As he thought about how he had gotten distracted from looking for the Snitch in order to watch Ginny play for a moment, he decided that he would really have to make sure he held on to this one. It wasn't everyday he found a girl who could distract him from searching for a Snitch. Harry's attitude toward Snitch-hunting was the same as Moody's attitude toward Death-eaters- "Constant Vigilance!"

It had only been a momentary slip, him allowing his mind to be drawn off the snitch, and it certainly wouldn't happen again, but Harry still attached some significance to it.

They were all celebrating the first Quidditch victory of the year, and they were really feeling awfully good about it. "I don't know though, it seems like you guys are slacking… only making 5 goals in the time it took the Slytherins to score one… we're going to have to start scheduling extra practices, I think," grinned Harry.

Everybody laughed. Yes, things were going well for Harry, and they continued to go well for him basically until Tuesday night, which is when the thread of the story picks up, during Harry's last scheduled "detention" with Tonks.

As mentioned before, these detentions had actually turned into a sort of dueling club for students. As far as the students involved go, they were pretty much the same as had been in the DA the previous year, except, of course, for Cho and her friend, who diplomatically declined to show up.

Harry was the first to arrive, and Tonks greeted him. "Hello, Harry,glad that tonight's your last detention?" Tonks asked.

Actually, the thought hadn't even crossed Harry's mind. "We're still going to keep the club going, aren't we?" he asked, somewhat concerned.

"Of course, I was only joking," replied Tonks, laughing slightly, as other members of the club began to trickle in.

After about 20 peple came in, Tonks said, "Okay, we're going to pair off into dueling groups, like normal, but tonight, we're going to learn a new spell before we begin."

Everyone listened attentively. "This spell is called 'the silencer' The reason for the name is rather obvious... It renders the wizard or witch upon whom it is cast speechless until a reversal spell is performed. Thus, it keeps the victim unable to perform any spells at all. Obviously, under certain circumstances, there may also be other, less battle oriented reasons that someone may want to cast this spell." Tonks smiled, and then continued, "The incantation for this spell is 'silentium,' and the countercurse is 'vox.' The rules for tonight's duels are as follows: The spells allowed are disarming, the deflecting spell, and the spell I just taught you. Victory, obviously, is achieved when you steal your opponent's voice. You should also all spread out, as you should practice your ability to dodge spells that are coming at you, as sometimes this is the only way to break a situation in which two wizards keep deflecting each other's spells back at the other indefinitely. Okay. Begin."

Harry paired off with Ginny, and Ron with Hermione. After moving to their own corner of the room, Harry and Ginny eyed each other, wands raised, seeing who would make the first move.  
Finally, Ginny said, "Expelliarmus!"

Harry quickly deflected the spell, watched Ginny's wand fly to the ground, and calmly pronounced, "Silentium."

He then chuckled as Ginny mouthed her voiceless frustration at having lost the first match. He performed the counter-curse immediately, and said, "Come on, didn't you hear Tonks? You should work on dodging." Mind you, Harry didn't mean for this to sound condesceding or anything... he was really trying to help her learn how to defend herself. Unfortunately, Ginny took it as being rather more haughty than Harry had intended.

"It's hard to try to concentrate on a duel and move around at the same time!" she defended, adding, "I'd like to see you try."

Never one to back down from a challenge, Harry cast the first spell. "Silentium!" he said, over the ambient noise in the classroom, which was getting louder as other pairings dueled as well.

As Ginny deflected the spell, Harry ducked out of the way, simultaneously yelling "Expelliarmus!" Once again, Ginny's wand hit the ground, and Harry called "Silentium"  
Ginny, who had been distracted by the fact that Harry had actually been quick enough to dodge her spell (chalk it up to seeker-reflexes...) was too distracted to dodge this spell. Ginny mouthed curses at Harry, who grinned and said, "Satisfied?" before aiming his wand and adding, "Vox!" to reverse the spell.

Ginny, now eager to prove herself, after two losses in a row, called "Expelliarmus," and ducked before Harry even deflected her spell.

The flash of light from the spell whizzed over her head, leaving the wand intact. Feeling somewhat more confident in herself, she yelled, "Expelliarmus!" again.

Harry deflected, and she deflected right back. This time, Harry ducked, and sent a "Silentium!" back at her.She quickly deflected the spell back down at him (of course, the deflecting spell sends the spell back at the same angle from which it came), and Harry, who was already in a crouching position, could not immediately think of anywhere else to go, and the spell hit him. He was going to say, "Good job, Gin!" but, of course, was rendered unable to do so. Ginny pointed her wand at him, and then hesitated, as if contemplating the situation.

"You know what?" she asked thoughtfully, "I think I like it better this way... no boasting, no condescension... Yes, this way's definitely better." She stuck her tongue out playfully.

Since there was really no telling when he'd get his voice back now, Harry took this opportunity to scan the rest of the room to see what kind of progress everyone else was making. Neville and Luna seemed to be pretty evenly matched, as did Ron and Hermione. As Harry was watching, Dean silenced Seamus, and Dennis Creevy shut Colin up. Harry thought that was somewhat odd, as Colin was the older of the two. In fact, Colin's magic hadn't seemed quite up to par (even judging by his own standards from the previous year) during the dueling club meetings. Harry shook his head and decided it wasn't something worth thinking about. Maybe Dennis just had some talent.

Tonks strolled over. "That was quite a volley you two had going there. And it's good to see that you won this time, Ginny... you've got to stop going easy on Potter just because he's your boyfriend." Tonks and Ginny both laughed, before Tonks finally cast the countercurse to allow Harry to talk again.

"I would have done that," said Ginny, "I really would have... eventually."

"You know, I really didn't mean to come off as condescending... I know you're excellent at dueling without my help," said Harry truthfully. Harry beat Ginny slightly more than half the time when they dueled, but even Tonks only beat him about half the time, so just the fact that she didn't quite have a winning record against him couldn't be held against her. Frankly, he was glad that he knew the only time he'd ever be dueling against her would be in the safety of this club.

"I know you weren't being condescending... I was just joking around," then she got thoughtful for a second. "Do you think I'm better at dueling than Ron is?"

Harry looked over to where Ron and Hermione and were dueling, just to make sure that Ron hadn't heard the question. He nodded seriously. "Well, I hope that means that next time your testosterone level gets so high that you feel like you need to duel Malfoy, you'll call on me as your second instead of Ron then," she said, and grinned, just so it was clear that she wasn't really mad at him.

"Whatever you say Ginny," he said, and then quickly pointed his wand, adding "Silentium." without so much as a pause. Ginny deflected the spell, and Harry ducked. The battle was back on.

The next time Harry met McGonnogal for potions, he asked her if they could make that potion that Hermione had suggested. When McGonnogal asked him where he had gotten such an idea, he stated, truthfully, that Hermione said that the potion often showed up on the NEWTs. Seemingly impressed with Harry's willingness to learn, she agreed to get the ingredients ready so that he could work on it the next class.When Harry reported back on his progress with the ingredients-collecting, Hermione seemed somewhat hesitant. "Are you guys sure this is a good idea?" she asked, tentatively. Ron's jaw dropped. "You're the one who suggested the project!" he said.

"I know, but as you'll recall, that was only several hours after Draco tried to get Ginny killed. I wasn't thinking rationally. This potion's not even legal, and it's a terrible invasion of privacy," said Hermione calmly, apparently trying to prove that she had now definitely regained her rationality.

Ron, however, seemed to think otherwise. He sputtered, "Wait! You said it yourself. Draco tried to kill my little sister! And you're worried about his privacy!"

"Ron, stop shouting!" cautioned Ginny, even though she was having a hard time avoiding shouting herself. "You'll wake people up!" They were, after all, in the common room, in the late night hours on a Thursday night. Although the room was deserted, shouting would probably be audible from the individual rooms.

"Anyway, he's right," opined Harry, "we've got to see if we can find anything out that will stop Malfoy from leading us into a trap with Deatheaters again. If we can find out where Wormtail's hiding, then we'll all be a lot safer."

Hermione seemed to be considering this. He had taken the correct persuausive route by arguing that he was not actually looking for trouble, but simply trying to preempt it. "Why can't we just tell Dumbledore that we think Malfoy knows where Wormtail is, and let him take it from there?" Hermione asked, although from her facial expression, it seemed that she knew the answer.

"Because he can't mix illegal potions! He'd get canned if anybody found out. And he wouldn't even be able to expel Malfoy on the grounds that we claim he's been misbehaving. He could lose his job for that too. Whereas, if we got caught, Dumbeldore would keep us from getting in too much trouble. Seriously, how are they going to expel the boy who lived on the eve of the second war?" asked Ron, who seemed to be trying, though failing, to keep his voice down to a reasonable volume.

"See, there you go," agreed Harry brightly, "I'll even volunteer to be the one who uses the potion to read Malfoy's mind."

"Fine... That's two in favor of making the potion... over my cautions against it. What're your thoughts, Ginny?" asked Hermione solemnly.

"I think we still need to make it," said Ginny carefully. "But you're still going to help us make it, right? You're not going to abandon us now, are you? I mean, if we're going to make this potion, we might as well at least make it right, and you're the only one who got an Outstanding on O.W.L. level potions out of all 4 of us."

Hermione, seemingly flattered at the compliment, said, "No, of course I wouldn't abandon you to make the potion on your own. I was the one who suggested it in the first place... Besides, I don't know, maybe you guys are right. Maybe it does need to be done"  
So in the next weeks, with a renewed resolve, the four friends went about finding ingredients for the complicated potion. By the end of November, the potion was complete, and all that needed to be done was to find a way to slip Malfoy some of the potion so that Harry could take his dose (they differed in only a few ingredients) and read his mind.

A/N So, um... too bad they couldn't read his mind this chapter, eh? Now you'll have to wait until my next update to see whether or not there really is anything at all to be read in Draco Malfoy's mind. But this chapter was getting too long as it is. 


	16. MindReading

Chapter 16

Mind-Reading

To get more information about the potion and the specifics of how it was to be used, Hermione went to the library and checked out a book from the forbidden part of the library. Harry and Ron were somewhat amazed at the fact that she was simply able to go and check the book out, asking the librarian to reverse the charms that would have normally caused the book to scream loudly upon being opened. The reason why she was able to check out a book from the forbidden section of the library was that her reputation as having received more Outsandings on her OWLs than anybody else for the past several decades greatly impressed the librarian.

Harry read over the instructions that it gave for reading somebody's mind when they were under the influence of the potion, and he had to admit that the instructions were exceptionally vague. Basically, what he understood was that once both he and Malfoy had taken the potion, then Harry, aside from having his own thoughts and stream of consciousness, would also be privy to whatever Malfoy happened to be thinking, feeling, and sensing. He himself would appear to others to be unconscious, and would lose all sensory perception from his own body. Once he was receiving Malfoy's stream of conscious, if he wanted to find out anything, all he would have to do would be to ask questions focused towards Malfoy's stream of consciousness. He wasn't exactly sure _how_ he was expected to direct questions toward a stream of consciousness, but he expected that he'd figure it out once he got there. Besides, the potion was already made, it was too late to back out now.

The plan for slipping Malfoy the potion was somewhat more complicated than their plan to get Crabbe and Goyle to take the sleeping draught in their second year. They figured that Malfoy, who was four years older, smarter than Crabbe and Goyle in the first place, and also keenly aware of the fact that he was making enemies within the school at an alarming rate, would be more wary than Crabbe and Goyle had been of eating food that he randomly found in hallways or stairwells.

They had wracked their brains for several hours, while the potion was brewing (they had gone back to their favorite potions-brewing location, Moaning Myrtle's bathroom). Of course, this time, they brought Ginny along with them, and Myrtle seemed somewhat pleased to find out that she was the girl who had been causing the basilisk to attack several years before. She seemed to be excited at the prospect of Ginny being an unwitting hand of the Dark Lord, because she figured it would have caused Ginny no end of guilt, and thus, for at least some amount of time, make her as miserable as Myrtle herself. However, Myrtle was not pleased at all when she found out that Ginny and Harry had started dating. "You can do better than that," Myrtle opined. She seemed to be under the impression that dating a dead, bathroom-haunting girl would be better than dating Ginny. Harry disagreed fervently.

Anyway, they were making no progress coming up with any way to get Malfoy to drink the potion. Finally, Hermione said, "All right, let's think about this logically."

"Erm... that's your strong-suit, really," stated Ron, matter-of-factly.

"Well... if we can't put a drink at a random point in the school and pretend that we lost it... what if we got it into his drinking goblet in the dining hall somehow?" asked Hermione.

"How in the world are we going to do that?" asked Ginny.

"Yeah, that sounds impossible," complained Ron. "I thought you said you were going to be thinking logically."

"Wait..." said Harry, after thinking for awhile, "I think I might know someone who can do that."

Half an hour later, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had made their way down to the kitchen to find an audience with Dobby.

"Dobby," Harry started gravely, once Dobby had stopped what he was working on so as to listen closely to what Harry had to say, "there is a very bad wizard hiding somewhere in this school. And nobody can find him. But we think that we know someone who knows where he is, and we have-" Harry was cut off by Ginny nudging him in the ribs. "What?" Harry asked irritably.

"Hold on," cautioned Ginny. "First of all, we need to make sure he's not going to tell anyone this. Dobby," she continued, "what Harry did here is kind of... breaking the rules. But for a good reason. So you can't tell anybody what Harry did, or he might get in trouble. And if he gets in trouble, and isn't able to do what he's trying to do, then this evil wizard might do something to hurt Harry. So you've got to do what Harry asks you, but not tell anybody about it. Okay?"

Dobby nodded vigorously, "Dobby will be glad to helping Harry fight evil wizards. Harry Potter is being very brave!"

"Okay, good then," said Harry. "We've got a potion that we need Draco Malfoy to drink. He always sits in the same seat at dinner, so all we need you to do when we give you the potion is make it magically appear with the pumpkin juice that always magically appears in the goblets at dinner. Can you do that for us?"

Dobby nodded vigorously again. "Dobby is not liking his old masters very much. Dobby knows they is bad, bad wizards. Dobby is helping to fight the bad wizards."

"Thanks, Dobby," Harry smiled. "And just for this, next time we go to Hogsmeade, I'll buy you some new socks."

Dobby beamed happily.

It was the last Friday evening in November when they opted to put their plan into action. Harry had decided that he should take the potion in his dormitory, so as to be away from prying eyes when he entered into his unconscious state. Ron decided to stay there with him, in case anybody came into the dormitory to find the unconscious Harry. Ginny and a very nervous looking Hermione were to go down to the kitchen to give Dobby the potion.

"Okay," said Hermione in the common room before they left for the kitchen, taking the slightly darker-colored potion, "this is the one for the person who's mind will be read. This means that you will be able to read his mind, but he will not know that you're there. You sure you can do this Harry?" asked Hermione, still concerned.

"Of course," Harry said, sounding more confident than he felt. "I read what the book said to do, and it sounds like it'd be a pretty much natural thing. I just need to mentally ask Malfoy questions to get him to tell me what I want to know."

After the girls left, Harry and Ron went up to their room and made small talk for about 15 minutes. Then, Harry's piece of enchanted parchment, which they had sitting on the bed, read, in Hermione's handwriting, "Malfoy's taken a drink. Let's get this over with, if we must."

Harry braced himself for what he figured would be quite the mental experience, and gulped down the potion. As he drank, Ron was saying something about wishing him luck, but as the potion took effect, Harry's hearing gave out, as did his eye-sight and all other senses. For about two seconds, he was in a state of psychic limbo where his conscious simply existed free from any of his senses.

Then... he... not _heard_... perceived, a thought that wasn't his own. _Pumpkin juice tastes kind of weird tonight. _Suddenly, not only did Harry have access to Malfoy's thoughts, but he also could see what he saw, hear what he heard, et cetera. He was sitting at the Slytherin table in the dining hall, across from Crabbe and Goyle, and next to Pansy Parkinson.

_Crabbe and Goyle really need to learn some table manners_ thought Malfoy, for the third time that dinner. _And Pansy should wear some deodorant. _

As vaguely interesting as it was for Harry to eavesdrop on Malfoy's mental insults toward his housemates, he had a job to do. He tried to focus a question toward Malfoy. _Where is wormtail? _thought Harry.

_That's a good question, where _is _that git?_ asked Malfoy mentally to himself, apparently not realizing that the thought was coming from somewhere outside of his own head. Harry supposed he should be feeling triumphant that he was able to succeed in asking Malfoy a question, but he was starting to feel overwhelmed mentally. It was hard juggling his own stream of consciousness with somebody else's, and he felt that he wasn't actually reading all of Malfoy's mind, just sort of, the tip of the consciousness. And even this was exhausting him. Harry somehow sensed that he could not hold on to the connection much longer, and tried to focus as hard as he could to hear Malfoy's stream of consciousness as he tried to answer the question of where Wormtail was.

Harry saw as Malfoy's gaze shifted so that he was looking at the Gryffindor table. His eyes combed the table before coming to rest on one of the tables where Creevey brothers, Neville, and Seamus Finnigan were sitting. Harry didn't understand how this table related to the question that he had just asked about where Wormtail was. He couldn't see a rat hiding under the table or anything. He was trying to focus his mental energy on sending Malfoy another question along these lines, but suddenly, the world went black. For a moment, he was floating in that mental limbo again, in which his mind was floating along by itself, and then even his consciousness decided to take a hiatus. Harry was unconscious.

A/N All right, that was a pretty hard chapter to write, but, I think it turned out... well, hopefully okay in the end. Let me know what you think, as reviews are what keeps me motivated.


	17. Hospital Wing

Chapter 17

Hospital Wing

When Harry awoke, it was a slow process. He started thinking again first, but was still without any of his senses. Then, he got his hearing back.

"I can't believe he's still not awake!" he heard Hermione say worryingly. "It's all my fault that we brewed this potion in the first place. I can't believe I was so stupid to suggest this."

"Hermione, don't worry," said Ron, who was in fact having a hard time keeping the worry out of his own voice. "He'll be okay. He's still breathing and everything. The potion's got to wear off soon. And don't go blaming yourself, you told us to stop making the potion..."

Then Harry heard Ginny speak up, "I really hope that he _is _all right."

Harry, who had been focusing all his mental energy on moving his body in some way, finally regained feeling, and control of his body. He opened his eyes, and was relieved to find that he also had his sight back. Apparently, he had come fully back into his own senses.

He was relieved for a moment, but then, to his great irritation, he found that he was in the hospital wing. Nobody was looking at him though, instead looking concernedly at each other, so he said, in a voice that was rather weaker than he would have liked, "How long have I been out?"

Each of their heads snapped toward him quickly. Hermione looked immensely relieved. "You're awake!" she yelled excitedly.

"It's" Ron glanced at his watch, "3:00 Saturday afternoon. So you've been out for almost a whole day."

"And it's a good thing you woke up when you did too," said Ginny. She then glaced around to make sure Madame Pomfrey wasn't anywhere to be seen before lowering her voice and saying, "Hermione was about to make us confess that we gave you a mind-reading potion, because Madame Pomfrey didn't seem to know what was wrong with you."

"Well, you can't blame her," said Ron, sounding himself almost surprised that he was sticking up for Hermione, "If Madame Pomfrey knew what was wrong with you, maybe she could have had a better idea what to do to fix it."

"But anyway," said Hermione, also seeming rather shocked that Ron had sided with her for once in an argument about confessing something to a professor, "it doesn't matter now, because you're okay. You are okay, right? Not dazed, or confused? You're not suffering from memory loss or anything, are you?" she asked, still somewhat worried.

"No, I'm good, I think," Harry reassured her.

There was silence for a moment. Then Ginny asked tentatively, "Well, obviously, the important thing is that you're okay, but... Did you get any information out of Malfoy?"

Harry was about to launch into explaining the confusing way in which Malfoy had glanced over at the Gryffindor table when Harry asked him about Wormtail, but just as he was about to begin, the door to the hospital wing opened, and none other than Dumbledore stepped inside.

Dumbledore's expression was hard to read when he saw Harry lying there, surrounded by his three friends. His words hardly helped decode his facial expression, however, as he simply said, "Ah, yes... I had expected you would be waking about now. I would like to have a private word with you, Harry," finished Dumbledore, glancing meaningfully at Hermione, Ginny, and Ron.

Harry was somewhat taken aback by this. Harry and Dumbledore's last private meeting certainly hadn't gone as well as could have been hoped for, but instead had left Dumbledore's office in shambles. And what did Dumbledore mean when he said he expected Harry would be waking soon? How could he know when Harry would recover? He couldn't know when Harry's condition would end unless he knew what had caused it. And if Dumbledore knew that Harry had been drinking an illegal potion... Would Harry be punished for trying to find out where Wormtail was lurking?

From the worried looks that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny shot him as they left the room, it seemed that they all thought punishment was a distinct possibility.

When Harry looked back at him, Dumbledore said, "I already have a pretty good idea what you were trying to do, Harry. When I heard that you had gone unconscious without any apparent cause (no wounds or evidence of curses being cast, and, of course, your friends were not terribly forthcoming with information), I was suspicious that you might have taken a potion. So I asked around, and found out that you and Hermione had been asking to make complicated potions for your classes, potions that just happened to have ingredients in common with a certain mind-reading potion, and that Hermione checked out a very advanced potions tome from the library. I was just curious as to whether you actually had been able to make contact with young Mr. Malfoy."

Dumbledore really did seem to know everything. It seemed impossible to keep a secret from him. However, Harry was still apparently planning on trying to do just that. "I- I-... I don't know what you're talking about, Professor," said Harry, his voice shaking slightly. He had had somewhat of a hard time trusting Dumbledore after the previous spring when he found out how much Dumbledore had been hiding from him. But he still felt very uncomfortable lying to him.

"Don't worry, Mr. Potter. I would not punish you for something like this. If I am not mistaken, your desire to read Malfoy's mind was well-founded. And the fact that you had not seen fit to come to me before trying it seems to suggest that I have not quite proven myself worthy of your trust," Dumbledore looked very saddened as he admitted this, and paused for a moment before continuing. "But from now on, I strongly suggest that you come to me for advice before trying anything so dangerous. For instance, had you come to me with your plan for reading Malfoy's mind, I would not have stopped you from doing it. I _would_, however, have been obliged to inform you that the skill you were trying to master would take years of training, was rather dangerous, and probably would not actually tell you anything. So I ask you again. Were you even able to make contact with Mr. Malfoy?"

"Yes..." Harry said tentatively, "I was able to use his senses, and I heard his thoughts. I stayed long enough to ask him one question, and I know he heard it, because he responded... But I can't understand why he looked over at the Gryffindor table when I asked him where Wormtail was..."

Dumbledore looked impressed, "I'm surprised that you were able to hear some of Malfoy's thoughts and use his senses... But I am most certain that he did not hear you when you tried to ask him a question. That would certainly take some very advanced training, to make yourself heard in someone else's mind, even with the aid of a potion such as the one you took. It must simply have been a coincidence that Malfoy seemed to be answering your question. Now I trust that you and your fellow potions-makers will be more careful in the future with attempting magic that is too complicated for you. Even the best of wizards must understand that they cannot attempt such complicated stunts without learning how. But at least your efforts, misguided though they are, are aimed toward the right goal. I trust that from now on, you and your friends will come to me first if you have such dangerous ideas. I assure you, I will do nothing to inhibit you, because doing so may make you more reluctant to come to me in the future. However, if you come to me with a plan that is dangerous to yourself or your friends, I will be sure to advise strongly against it. After all, you are the only one who has the power to topple the dark lord. You must not treat your own safety so carelessly as you have been. The potion which you used, when it backfires because the user is unable to control it, as it did with you, normally allows the imbiber to wake up in less than a day. But sometimes..." his voice trailed off so that Harry could only guess that sometimes the prospective mind-reader never woke up at all.

"Yes, Professor," said Harry, cautiously, relieved that Dumbledore had not told him simply to behave like a good little boy and let the dangerous stuff to his elders. Dumbledore seemed to be treating Harry almost as an equal. And where Dumbledore was concerned, that was not a compliment to be taken lightly.

"While I'm here," said Dumbledore, his tone lightening a bit, "I might as well tell you something else that I think you should know. With Voldemort again on the rise, I would find it advisable that, unless you plan to return to your aunt's house this Christmas break, you should stay at Hogwarts. Although the Weasleys have kindly invited you to their home, I find it better if you would stay here. It would be safest. But," finished Dumbledore, "it will ultimately be your choice."

Harry appreciated that Dumbledore at least put on the act of giving Harry the final say. He was almost tempted to choose to go with the Weasleys just to test Dumbledore's word, but decided that he ought to take Dumbledore's advice. He might as well choose his battles. After all, he normally stayed at Hogwarts over the Christmas holiday anyway.

After Harry was done talking to Dumbledore, he was allowed to go back up to the Gryffindor common-room, after a cursory check-up by Madame Pomfrey. She seemed to be quick enough to let him go, perhaps figuring that he'd probably land himself back in the hospital wing soon enough anyway.

After Harry had told Ron, Hermione, and Ginny about his and Dumbledore's discussion, Ginny quickly said, "Well, then, of course, we'll stay as well."

Ron and Hermione nodded fervently.

"Are you sure your parents won't mind you not going home?" asked Harry.

Hermione shook her head that they wouldn't mind, and Ron smiled, saying "My Mum would be absolutely furious if we left you here alone for the holidays."

Later that night, when all four of them were working on their homework assignments, Harry saw the magical bit of parchment he had received from Lupin flash him a new message in Ginny's handwriting. Apparently, the reason she had written the message to him this way instead of saying it out loud was so that Hermione and Ron wouldn't hear, because it said,

"It's good that we'll be here without much interference over the holidays. It should give us the perfect opportunity to get Hermione and Ron together. I still can't believe that they haven't seen it themselves yet. But the way Ron was comforting Hermione when she was taking the blame for rendering you unconscious and the way he stuck up for her when I called her out for being ready to go to a teacher... If it weren't Ron, I'd say it was exceptionally sweet the way he's behaving. Have you noticed they've been bickering less? This will be _easy_!"

Harry tapped the paper with his wand to clear it before Hermione or Ron could read it, and then looked at Ginny. She was looking back at him with a glint of mischief in her eye. Somehow, Harry thought it would be rather fun trying to play match-maker with Ginny. And he had to admit, the choice of couple was excellent.

A/N: All right, I might as well admit, as you've probably read the chapter already if you're reading the author's note at the end, that this chapter is definitely not my favorite. Frankly, I'm not sure that it's very good at all. But it needed to be written so that later, more interesting chapters can be written. So come on, review, will ya?


	18. Wormtail's Captive

Chapter 18

Wormtail's Captive

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny started out the month of December rather exhausted. They all felt rather put out by the fact that their potion had not allowed them to find out where Wormtail was hiding. Finally they had decided, after wracking their brains in a night-long conversation once everyone else had left the common-room one night in the first week of December, that they would just have to wait for Voldemort to strike first, and fight once they had the chance.

But oddly enough, it was only the day after they had given up hope on finding out where Wormtail had been hiding that the mystery was solved for them, in the least likely of all ways. The four of them were walking back from the Great Hall when they ran into a frantic and extremely unhealthy-looking Colin Creevey standing by the portrait of the fat lady. Colin looked like he had started to go bald, he had less hair than Harry remembered him having, and he looked scared out of his mind.

"Harry," he said, when he saw the four of them approaching, "you've got to help me! I've only just escaped. There's this guy named Peter Pettigrew, and he's been keeping me captive and using my hair to make a poly-juice potion since the beginning of the school year."

Harry's mind was racing. He remembered how Malfoy had looked over at the table with Colin at it when Harry asked him psychically where Wormtail was. He remembered how the person who he had assumed was Colin had cursed him when he was about to beat Malfoy in a duel, and then lied about it later. He also remembered how during Quidditch try-outs, Colin had almost knocked Harry off his broom. It made so much sense, Harry was simply surprised that he hadn't seen it sooner.

"Do you know where he is now?" asked Harry urgently.

"No, I don't have any idea. He's still probably walking around masquerading as me at the moment, he won't even know I'm gone until he comes to check up on me again," said Colin. He still looked terribly frightened, pale, and rather sickly. Even as he spoke, he wobbled a bit on his feet.

Hermione rushed to him concernedly. "We've got to get him to the hospital wing!" she said to the others.

"Yeah, you're right," said Harry, somewhat distractedly. "But we've also got to try to find Wormtail. And we've got to tell Dumbledore what's going on."

He looked around for a moment as if expecting somebody else to announce who exactly was going to do which of these tasks, but as everyone else seemed to be content to let him take the lead, he said, "All right, Ron and Hermione, take Colin down to Madame Pomfrey, and then try to find Dumbledore and tell him what's going on. In the meantime, Ginny and I will try to find Wormtail in Colin's form before he catches on to what's happened. Now let's go, so we can find that rat before he sneaks away again." Harry spoke in a matter-of-fact tone that made him sound like a battle-hardened strategist. He might soon have another chance at Wormtail, the man who had ruined his life on so many occasions.

Hermione looked at Harry uncertainly, as if hesitant to contradict him. "What?" Harry asked.

"Well, it's just, if Wormtail sees us before we get Colin to Madame Pomfrey, that's the time when he'd be the most dangerous, since he'd know his cover was blown and he'd have little left to lose by attacking us. Wouldn't it make sense to have all of us with Colin until he's safely in the hospital wing, and then we could split up?"

Harry hesitated, knowing that any delay might give Wormtail enough time to check the place where he had left Colin, and discover he was not there. But Hermione was right. Seeking revenge was important, but at this point their main priority had to be keeping Colin safe.

"All right," said Harry, and the five of them began to walk quickly toward the hospital wing.

"Where did he keep you?" asked Harry, as the silence between them began to grow uncomfortable.

"A bunch of different places. Abandoned classrooms, tunnels below the school. Never in one place too long, he must've been paranoid that someone would find me if he kept me in one place for too long," said Colin, his voice still shaky.

"Where'd he have you last, where'd you just come from? Maybe we'll be able to head him off before he gets there," Ron said. It turned out Ron could be quite the strategist too, which should not be too surprising, considering his skills at wizard-chess.

"In one of the abandoned classrooms near the library... he had me stuffed in a broom closet. It's just, he forgot to lock it, and when the sleeping-potion he had given me wore off, I was able to get out." The five of them were nearing the Hospital Wing now. They were quiet for a moment before Colin spoke up again. "Who _was_ he anyway? I mean, I know he was a follower of He-who-must-not-be-named, but I've never heard of him before. And why do you call him Wormtail?"

But now they had reached the hospital wing, and Harry was quite anxious to drop Colin off so that they could find Pettigrew before he noticed Creevey was missing. "I'll explain everything later on tonight, I promise, but first, we've got to try and find him."

Colin looked a little put out by the fact that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were about to leave him after he had just experienced such an ordeal, but he seemed to be just as anxious as they were to be sure that Pettigrew was caught, which made sense since being Wormtail's captive must have made the last several months torture for Colin. Therefore, he didn't protest as Harry opened the door to the hospital wing and led him inside.

"Madame Pomfrey!" Harry yelled, after making sure there were no sick students trying to sleep in the dormitory, and knocked on her office-door.

The nurse bustled out, and looked very irritated that Harry had disturbed the peace of her hospital-wing. "What is it?" she asked shortly, and then her face filled with concern as she saw Colin. "What's wrong with him?" she asked in a more sympathetic voice.

"He can tell you himself," said Harry, in a tone which was rather more impatient than he had meant for it to sound. "Just, partition his bed off from the rest of the wing, so that nobody coming in can see him, and please especially make sure that nobody else who looks like him comes in here."

Harry was aware that he wasn't making a lot of sense, but had no time to explain the situation. Even as they spoke, Wormtail could be making his way up to the deserted classroom where he expected to find Colin waiting to be the unwilling supplier of another handful of hairs that would allow Wormtail to continue to use the poly-juice potion. Madame Pomfrey looked extremely confused, but knew from the determined expression on Harry's face that it would be no good to try to make him explain himself further. Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione quickly left the Hospital Wing.

"Okay," said Harry hurriedly, once they were back out in the hallway. "We need to split up, but I think we really should at least stay in pairs, in case he finds one of us after he figures out what's happened. If he encounters one of us alone, he might be able to kill that person and escape. So, Ron, and Hermione, go tell Dumbledore what's happened, then, if he lets you, go and wait outside the abandoned classroom to try and head him off. Ginny and I will check all the places he might be if he hasn't yet figured out what's going on, like the common-room, his dorm, and the Great Hall."

"All right," agreed Ron and Hermione simultaneously, and the two pairs went off in their separate directions.

As they walked, Harry could think of nothing but Pettigrew, and naturally, this conjured up memories of all the wrongs Pettigrew had done to Harry. The list seemed endless.

"Do you really think we'll find him?" asked Ginny nervously as they made their way back towards Gryffindor tower so that they would be able to look in the common-room and the fifth-year boys' dormitory for Pettigrew.

"I hope we do," said Harry fiercely. "It's about time that filthy traitor was caught."

Ginny looked rather frightened. Harry mistook the cause of the fear to be the fact that they might have to do battle with Pettigrew if they found him, so he reassured her by saying, "If we find him up here, we'll have caught him off guard. We'll be able to stun him before he knows that we know what's going on, and then we can take him to Dumbledore."

But what Ginny had really been frightened by was the tone of uncontrollable hatred in Harry's voice. It wasn't that she didn't think Harry had every right to hate Wormtail. It just scared her to think that Harry was capable of such hate and anger as had made itself audible in his voice.

As they walked toward the portrait-hole, Harry could still feel that hate coarsing through him, and his mind went back to what Lestrange had told him about the Cruciatis Curse in the Department of Mysteries last spring. "You need to really want to cause pain- to enjoy it." He grimly reflected that he probably would enjoy causing Wormtail pain right now. He was the reason that his parents were dead, and he was the reason Sirius had spent 12 years in Azkaban. Twelve years when he could have been Harry's proper godfather. And really, without Wormtail, Voldemort never could have begun his rise back to power. Without Wormtail, Sirius would not now be dead. Yes, Harry thought, he really did want to cause Wormtail pain. He wondered whether he would be able to perform a proper Cruciatis Curse on Wormtail if they found him.

Harry, lost in his thoughts, had hardly realized that they were now in the common-room. He had also not realized that his face was flushed red with anger and that he was breathing heavily. He did not notice the strange looks he was getting from the people in the common-room. Ginny, who was managing to keep a much cooler head at the moment, had already scanned the room. "He's not in here," she whispered to Harry, and then she led the way up the staircase to the boys' dormitory. The other occupants of the common-room looked rather scandalized with the fact that a girl was going up the guys' staircase but most of them were below fourth year, and didn't have the nerve to say anything. Even the older students were put off by Harry's furious expression, and simply ignored the situation.

When they got to Colin's dorm, they found the room empty. But on Colin's bed was an old piece of parchment-- the Marauder's Map! Harry quickly realized that this must mean that Wormtail had seen on the map that Colin had left his hiding place. And as he made his way over to the bed, his fears were confirmed. There had been a small note left on the bed beside the Marauder's Map, which he read out loud, "Mr. Wormtail would like to say farewell until we meet again. Judging from your position on this map as I am writing this note, I will be long gone before you read this." Even in his haste to retreat, Wormtail had found the time to taunt Harry.

Harry let out a yell of frustration. The hate he felt for Pettigrew, and for Lestrange, and for all the other Deatheaters was increasing within him, threatening to consume him completely.

Ginny rushed over and hugged him. "Don't worry, Harry," she said kindly, soothingly. "We'll catch him soon. You'll have your revenge."

Somehow, although Ginny was trying her best to be soothing and comforting, the word revenge still sounded terribly ugly when she said it. "I don't want revenge," Harry said, "I just want to capture him to make sure nobody else gets hurt by Voldemort and his servants."

And the strange thing is, at that moment, Harry really didn't want revenge. True, revenge had been all that was on his mind when he entered the room, hoping to find Wormtail posing as Creevey, but somehow, when Ginny hugged him, he was glad that he had not had the opportunity to perform the Cruciatis curse in front of her. He wanted to protect her, and he knew it would hurt her to see him perform an unforgivable curse. As much as he wanted to hurt Pettigrew, Harry knew it wouldn't be worth it if it meant hurting Ginny as well. And as she held him comfortingly in her arms, he had felt the hate slowly melt away, replaced by a different emotion.

He knew that the emotion must have been a really strong one in order to win out over the hate he was feeling. That was when he knew, as he bent down to kiss her, that he really did love Ginny Weasley.

A/N: Okay, when I first started writing this chapter a few hours ago, I had no idea it was going to turn out like this... Pretty much all I knew going into it was that Colin was going to escape from Wormtail this chapter, and that Wormtail was going to get away. The whole romance bit was a sudden inspiration, and I'm not really sure how it's going to come off. So at this point, I would _really _appreciate some reviews. You can comment on any part of the story you want, but I'm really curious to find out whether or not my attempts at the romantic angle so far have, well... sucked. Anyway, thanks for reading, and remember, it'll only take another 30 seconds to review. And if it turns out that this chapter sucked, let me know, 'cause I can still change it.


	19. End of First Term

A/N: Thanks to everybody who has reviewed so far. I love it when I get good reviews, and the critical bits are helpful too, as they let me know what I can do to make the story better. Thanks everyone. Now, a rather long chapter, somewhat lighter than the last one. I hope you like it.

Chapter 19:

End of First Term

Later that evening, Harry found himself by Colin's bed in the hospital wing, explaining to him many of the events of the previous years. He had asked Dumbledore first just how much it would be safe for Colin to know, but Harry thought, and Dumbledore agreed, that since Colin had been imprisoned for several months by Wormtail, he had a right to know why. The only thing Harry didn't tell Colin about was the prophecy, as he hadn't even told his friends that yet. It wasn't that he was trying to keep it secret from them. It was just that he was mostly trying to keep it out of his own head (because really, there was very little that one could _do _to prepare for an apocalyptic battle with the most evil wizard of our time, except working very hard on Defense Against the Dark Arts, which Harry was already doing) and he figured he didn't need the concerned looks of his friends always reminding him of his fate.

When Harry had finished telling him everything he figured he could, Colin sat looking rather amazed. "Wow, Harry... I had no idea about most of that stuff... I mean, of course, everybody heard rumors, but..." Harry was a little bit embarassed. The purpose of this talk had been to bring Colin up to speed with the nature of the war of which he had been a prisoner for three months, not to revive the "Harry Potter Fan Club" from his second year.

Harry decided that the best thing to do would be to change the subject. "Yeah, well, I've still never had to do anything quite so hard as keep myself sane during three months of captivity... how'd you manage to make it out so... _okay_?" asked Harry sincerely. He had truly been wondering how Colin had coped with being held captive by Wormtail for so long. Harry knew he himself would have probably gone mad, being used by the enemy without any way out... he would not have been able to handle feeling so helpless.

"Well..." Colin hesitated. "He wasn't as bad as-- I mean, he..." Colin trailed off.

"What, Colin?" asked Harry curiously.

"It's just, he didn't _seem _as evil as he must be to have... to have betrayed your parents like that," said Colin. It was almost as if he was afraid of sounding too sympathetic toward the enemy, and didn't want Harry to get mad at him.

"Hmm..." Harry said thoughtfully, "he's probably just covering all his bases. Figured that he better not be too cruel to you, in case you escaped from him. How'd you manage _that_ by the way? I mean, you mentioned the potion wore off, but, how could he be so careless?"

"Well, he tried to time it so that he could keep me out for a few days at a time, so that he'd be able to put me back to sleep when he regularly came to collect my hair, and move me to my next hiding-place. But as he kept me longer and longer, I got weaker, and eventually the potion was knocking me out for longer and longer. I heard him mutter something one night about having to back off so that i wouldn't go into a coma or something. So I knew he'd be lowering the dose until he found what kind of dose kept me asleep for around three days. So for the last few times, I pretended to be asleep for longer than I really was. And he'd just sit there, muttering about how he'd have to be careful or he'd have another death on his hands. Eventually, he gave me a dose that he hoped would keep me out for three days, but really only kept me out for two. I was planning on catching him off guard whenever he opened the cupboard, expecting to find an unconscious hair-donor. I figured maybe I'd be able to snatch the wand from him after he'd magically opened the lock."

"That was really brave, Colin," said Harry, "planning to take on an armed wizard."

Colin beamed proudly, "Well, I had to, really. I knew from things I heard him muttering that he was using his disguise to try to kill or capture you, and I needed to try to save you. Besides, I figured the worst that could happen was that he would knock me out. He wouldn't've killed me when he still needed me to be a hair-donor for his potions (I remember Snape mentioning once that you can't make a good polyjuice person to turn you into a person who's dead). But I lucked out. Didn't have to fight him at all when I tested the door and found it open!"

"Still, really brave, and really clever," said Harry. Colin just beamed some more.

The school was abuzz with the news of the recent infiltration. Colin had a stream of visitors, and seemed to be relishing in the experience of having fans rather than simply being a fan. Meanwhile, extra precautions were taken to make sure that no such situation ever occur again. As it was obvious to all concerned (including Dumbledore) that the reason Colin was chosen to be Wormtail's disguise was his proximity to Harry, Dumbledore ordered all Gryffindors to go down to the hospital wing in turn, to be kept under watch for an hour each, just to make sure that they weren't actually a death-eater in disguise.

The next couple of weeks were rather tense, with the fresh scent of suspicion and well-founded paranoia in the air, so everybody was doubly relieved as the term came to a close. One interesting piece of gossip that Hermione had (quite accidentally, she claimed) overheard from Lavander and Parvati, was that Colin Creevey was now going with Gryffindor Seeker Amy Bell, who had been helping him catch up with the course-work that he had missed while Wormtail was holding him hostage.

When Harry checked this rumor with Colin one night in the common-room, Colin just grinned and nodded, saying "Apparently, she thought I had been really brave too!"

The night before the morning on which most of Gryffindor tower was scheduled to head home for the holidays, Harry and Ginny once again stayed up in the common-room after Ron and Hermione went to bed.

"So, how do you reckon we're going to get the two of them together before the end of Christmas holiday?" Harry asked curiously, hoping that Ginny had something planned, because he sure didn't.

"Well, obviously, I'll talk to Hermione, and you talk to Ron. And we'll each try to convince our charge that the other really likes them and that they should be the one to break the ice. Frankly, I think I've got more luck with getting Hermione to come forward than you do with Ron, but we've got to hedge our bets," Ginny said, matter of factly.

"You a_re _sure that Hermione likes him, right?" asked Harry cautiously, not wanting to set his friend up for failure.

"Of _course_ I am. She actually even told me one time, when she and him were fighting earlier this year, after you and Ron nearly got yourselves killed trying to duel Malfoy on the Quidditch Pitch. She said he was an irresponsible prat for not stopping you from going, and said she wished she hadn't taken to fancying such an insufferable... well, then she said a word that she doesn't normally say, so I won't repeat it, but you get the point," said Ginny.

Harry laughed slightly. "That was a while ago though, are you sure she _still_ fancies him?" he pressed.

"Yes! Sometimes it's amazing how dense you boys can be!" Ginny said somewhat exasperatedly.

At that moment, Lavander and Parvati passed by the couch where Harry and Ginny were sitting. "Are you guys trying to get Ron and Hermione together?" asked Lavander curiously.

"Yeah," said Ginny off-handedly before Harry could deny it. He wasn't sure Ron and Hermione would want gossip being spread about them.

"It's about time," said Parvati, "they've fancied each other for ages!" Ginny shot Harry an "I told you so" look.

"Anyway, have a good holiday you guys, and see you next term," said Lavendar as they made their way up the stairs.

The next morning was December 22nd, and Harry woke up before Ron did. After tossing and turning for a bit and deciding that he wasn't going to actually be able to get back to sleep, he opened his eyes and pondered how exactly he was going to broach the subject of Hermione with Ron. Ron and Harry weren't the type of guys (assuming that there _was _a type of guy like this) that were overly comfortable sharing deep emotions with other guys, so Harry wasn't sure how he was going to get Ron to admit that he liked Hermione, let alone convince him to do something about it. Nevertheless, Ginny had instructed him to try to talk to Ron a little bit about Hermione before they saw each other in the Great Hall for lunch, just to see how far he could get.

He heard Ron stirring in the next bed down, and tried to think of something, anything, to get the conversation started.

"Hey, mate," said Ron sleepily, sitting up in bed, "care for a bite to eat?"

"Er... not yet," said Harry, still having no idea what how he was going to complete his assignment, but figuring he needed to stall somehow, "I've got to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" asked Ron, somewhat concernedly.

"Er..." started Harry again, and then continued blunderingly by saying, "it's really terrible what happened to Colin, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Ron, seriously, "poor bloke. I can't imagine having been in his position." Ron thought for awhile. Then he continued, "But you know you don't have to worry about me actually being in that situation, right? I mean, if Wormtail ever tried to capture me, I think I could beat him. You've seen me in Dueling Club. B'sides, if you ever want to keep me under surveillance, just say the word, and I won't drink anything for an hour. If I refuse to cooperate, then feel free to curse the impostor into next week." Ron grinned.

Harry, who hadn't actually even intended to get onto this conversation topic, was now actually rather glad he did. It was good to know he wouldn't have to worry about Ron being a death-eater in disguise. He thought it rather weird that Ron would have been thinking as much about this as he apparently had been, but, Harry guessed, it must come with the territory of being Harry Potter's best friend.

"Thanks mate," said Harry, smiling back.

Then Ron, who apparently thought that the conversation had turned a little bit too serious to be allowed when they were supposed to be in holiday high-spirits, said, "But it wasn't _all _bad for Colin, eh? He did come out of it with an awfully good-looking girlfriend. If I'd have known she was single last month..." he trailed off.

Well, here was Harry's chance. Ron had just said 'girlfriend.' Harry doubted if another segway as opportune as this would come up before lunch, so he decided to pounce on it. He took a deep breath, and said, "Yeah, but there're still plenty of other good-looking single-girls around this school, wouldn't you say?"

Ron looked at Harry in a suspicious way that seemed to say, "you're dating my _sister_, why're you looking at other girls?"

"Not for me," said Harry hastily, "I meant, there's another girl that _you're_ interested in, isn't there?" Of course, Harry already knew the answer, but was curious to see whether Ron would admit it.

"What're you talking about?" Ron said, now even more suspicious than before.

"You know," said Harry. "You can't tell me you don't fancy Hermione."

Ron's jaw dropped.

A/N: Well, this is as good of a place to end it as any, and I've got to get to bed... Hope you liked this chapter, I tried to get a blend of serious and somewhat lighter stuff in. I'd definitely appreciate some reviews to let me know how I'm doing. Even if I'm screwing up, let me know what you think needs fixed! Thanks.


	20. An Unwelcome Dream

A/N: So, here we've got a rather long chapter, which starts out light and hopefully amusing, and then turns somewhat more serious toward the end. Hopefully, you will find it worth the read. Also, I've decided to start responding individually to reviewers, so here's responses to everyone who reviewed chapter 19:

waterboy453: I'm glad you like it and I hope this chapter meets your expectations.

Mr.Hifey: I'm glad you like my character development. Also, you'll find that this chapter includes something that might be interpreted as a sign of Harry's potential strength as a wizard. Hope this qualifies as something along the lines of what you're looking for.

Old-Crow: What can I say, I pride myself on my italic placement. And to respond to something you said in your review of chapter 18, I find that the capture of any major death-eaters would best be placed somewhat closer to the resolution, otherwise the capacity for action is reduced, if the antagonists are dwindling.

Chapter 20

An Unwelcome Dream

For a moment, it looked as if Ron was going to deny that he had any feelings for Hermione. He opened his mouth and tried to speak. Unfortunately, all that came out were some sputtering noises. He closed his mouth, paused for a moment, and then opened his mouth to try again. "I-I-I don't fancy Hermione!" he stuttered unconvincingly. "Why would you say that?"

"Oh, come on. After how jealous you were over her when you thought she was going with Krum? Could you be any more transparent?" asked Harry.

"No!" Ron sputtered. Then, he realized what he had said. "I meant, no, I don't like her. Not that I couldn't be any more transparent."

Harry considered him in silence for a moment. Ron was blushing profusely. "Well, it's nice to see how bad of a liar you are. Means I'll never have to worry about not being able to trust you," Harry grinned.

Ron opened and closed his mouth two more times. Then he shut it again, and blinked slowly, seeming to consider the situation. "If I told you that I like her, you wouldn't tell her would you? Not that I'm admitting anything, mind you," he added hastily.

"Of course not," Harry said. "I would never tell Hermione that you like her." No, he thought, that was Ginny's job, which she was probably conducting at that very moment.

"Fine," said Ron reluctantly, after a moment of further consideration. "Fine. I fancy Hermione. Nobody else knows, do they?"

Harry had to fight back laughter as he responded, as seriously as he could, "No, of course not. But you're going to tell Hermione, right?"

"What?" Ron sputtered again. He seemed to be doing this a lot lately, and Harry wondered whether it was really the best habit to be picking up. His facial expression suggested that he had never heard a less intelligent idea in his life. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Well, she likes you too, of course," said Harry, in a slightly exasperated voice.

"Are you mad? What gives you that idea?" asked Ron, apparently just as exasperated as Harry.

"Well, she told Ginny, for one," said Harry. He rather hoped that this would settle the matter, as he wasn't entirely sure that he would be able to come up with a "for two" in a reasonable amount of time.

Ron scoffed. "Seriously, if that's the best argument you can come up with, this whole idea's complete rubbish," said Ron. "Ginny'd just love to have me make a fool out of myself in front of Hermione."

"Oh, no she wouldn't," said Harry, surprised. "She's your sister!"

"That's exactly why she'd want to set me up. I know you've never actually experienced sibling rivalry, but this is a classic example," argued Ron.

"Oh, come on. She's my girlfriend, I'd know if she were trying to set you up!" countered Harry.

"Look, you're a nice couple and all, but I don't think the fact that you've been dating her for five months means you know her better than I do. She's my sister, as you so recently pointed out," said Ron. "Now let's go get some lunch."

"Whatever," said Harry defeatedly. There was really only so much that he could do, and it strongly appeared as if he had already done it. They dressed quickly, and made their way down the steps. When they made it to the common room, they found Ginny and Hermione already waiting for them. Harry hoped that Ginny had had better luck with Hermione than he had had with Ron.

Ron looked at Hermione in a rather awkward fashion as he entered the room. Next, he eyed Ginny suspiciously. Then Ginny said something which helped absolutely not at all to allay his suspicion. "Well, Harry and I will be going to eat awhile then. Ron, I believe Hermione has something that she wants to tell you." With that, Ginny led Harry through the portrait hole.

"So, she's going to ask him then?" asked Harry, relieved, as they walked down the hall. "I didn't have much luck with him. Although I did get him to admit that he liked her, and I was kind of surprised that he'd even admit that."

"Yeah, I think she'll be asking him. Pity he won't do it, though. That'll be quite a blow to his masculine pride, that will," said Ginny, grinning. Apparently she found it quite amusing that Ron's masculine pride would be hurt. Perhaps Ron wasn't completely off about the whole sibling rivalry thing, Harry reflected, as they made it to the Great Hall.

The couple was already seated, and had begun to eat their meal when, five minutes later, Ron and Hermione made it into the room. Ron was blushing slightly, and Hermione seemed to be struggling to keep from smirking. And they were holding hands. Harry had to exercise quite a bit of will power to not tell Ron, "I told you so."

After Ginny forced Hermione and Ron to recount word for word their conversation after she and Harry had left the room, she laughed, and said, "So you did make her ask you in the end after all, eh, Ron?"

Ron blushed some more, but still managed a smile, "Yeah, well, the important part is that she did it, right? I'm going with Hermione Granger... I'm not picky about _how _it happened.

The rest of the day was one of the most pleasant that Harry had ever had at Hogwarts. For awhile, the four talked and laughed about how dumb it was that Hermione and Ron had not noticed each other's feelings sooner. Then, Ron and Hermione went off for a nice private walk around the newly snow-covered grounds, which was convenient because it gave Ginny and Harry some time alone as well. After dinner, the group played a few rounds of exploding snap and talked about the prospect of having a double date the next time there was a Hogsmeade weekend. Then, they went to bed. As Harry drifted off to sleep, he made a mental effort to store the memory of this day for the next time the presence of dementors should require him to produce a Patronus. But thoughts of dementors seemed strangely out of place as Harry was feeling such a warm, and happy feeling in his chest. Unfortunately, this warm feeling would not make it through until the morning.

He woke up only three hours later, immediately aware that the dream he had just woken up from had not been a dream at all, but rather another instance of him sharing a brain with Voldemort. However, Harry doubted that Voldemort had wanted him to see this particular vision, as it did not involve anyone he cared about being hurt. The only person that was being tortured during this vision was Wormtail, which Harry simply couldn't get too worked up about considering that he himself had been contemplating doing the same thing only weeks before. From what Harry could gather from the conversation between Voldemort and Wormtail, Wormtail had only that night worked up the courage to return to Voldemort after slipping up and letting Colin go free. But after he had performed the Cruciatus curse on Wormtail for a painfully long amount of time, Voldemort announced that Wormtail would still be allowed to participate in the plan that Voldemort had just recently thought up to get Harry cornered once again. Unfortunately, Harry never got to learn what the plan was, as the connection was broken at that moment. Harry strongly suspected that Voldemort had somehow felt him in his mind at just the moment when potentially helpful details of the plan were about to be revealed.

When Harry awoke, his scar hurt. He figured that the encounter between himself and Voldemort had been completely accidental, but knew that he would still have to inform Dumbledore of the matter. As he knew there was no way he'd be getting back to sleep that night, he almost considered going to see Dumbledore right then, before remembering that even the headmaster would be asleep at this time of night.

So he decided to let his visit wait for another four hours, until seven o' clock the next morning, at which point he slipped out of the common room without waking Ron. As he made his way to Dumbledore's office, he was just wondering what the new password to the headmaster's quarters might be when he saw Dumbledore himself coming down a perpindicular corridor toward him, apparently making his way back from breakfast in the Great Hall.

When Harry explained to Dumbledore that the two of them needed to talk, Dumbledore led the way on the remainder of the journey to his office.

"What is it, Harry?" asked Dumbledore once they were both seated.

Harry quickly explained the dream to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore nodded. "I was wondering whether something like this would happen again. I think you made yourself more vulnerable to it when you attempted you read Malfoy's mind last month. Once you allow your psyche to get out of your own brain, it's sometimes hard to reel it back in. Speaking at your attempt to read Malfoy's mind, by the way, I seem to recall you trying to tell me that Malfoy seemed to look toward the Gryffindor table when you asked him where Wormtail was?"

Harry thought back, and then mentally kicked himself. "That's right! He looked right at the part of the table where Colin was sitting! I can't believe I didn't realize it then! With the way Colin's been acting... And his wand was even being less than cooperative with him in Dueling Club."

"Yes, well, you were not the only one who was fooled by the ruse," stated Dumbledore sadly. "But the fact that Malfoy looked at Colin meant that you were much more successful in your attempt to read his mind than I had realized. And I think that means that you may have a talent for mind-reading. I think, if you're up to it, we ought to start you back up on Occlumency immediately, and then begin to train you in Legilemancy. Of course, you won't be able to ready Voldemort's mind. He'd almost certainly notice if you intentionally attempted to break into his mind. But with quite a bit of training, you may eventually be able to infiltrate the minds of some of his more trusted servants."

Harry considered this offer for a moment. Of course, he knew he should do this if it could translate into any potential advantage in the war, but he was still skeptical about one thing, "Professor... who would be teaching me?"

Dumbledore considered this for a moment. "Well, as Voldemort has not attempted to come into your mind since June, as I suspected he would not, I see no reason for him to start now. He is aware that you now know he might try to trick you, and will probably be reluctant to waste his effort on attempting a ruse that will not work. Legilemancy is a very exhausting process, especially when done wandless, as it would have to be from such a distance. He also does not seem to believe you to know any information worth him getting, so I don't think that he would have any reason to discover it if I am the one teaching you. Besides which, it seems that our friend Professor Snape has already failed once in attempting to teach you. It should not have been too hard for him to do so, given the innate skill you seem to be exhibiting in the field. Perhaps it is time to throw caution into the wind and simply hope that we will get you to the point that you would be able to block Voldemort from your mind before he might attempt to read it. As it is currently the holidays, we should be able to get rather far with your training before lessons start again. That is, if you're up to it."

Harry nodded somewhat excitedly. Rather more excitedly than one might think him capable, as it was still just after seven in the morning and he had only gotten three hours of sleep the previous night. But he couldn't help being excited, as it seemed that now, with Dumbledore helping him, he may actually be on the brink of learning Occlumency, and then perhaps, if he was as talented as Dumbledore seemed to expect, Legilimancy as well.

A/N: Well, there it is. Thanks for reading to this point, I know that this whole story's getting somewhat lengthy by this point. Let me know which bits, if any, you like, and which bits you think ought to be deleted. Perhaps I'll agree and actually delete them or modify them. By the way, I'd just like to use this opportunity to point out that I am now working on a parody as well, under the title "Harry Potter and co Write Fanfiction." You can find it on my author's page, and I think it's rather amusing so far. Hopefully you'll find it worth a look.


	21. Christmas Day

Chapter 21

Christmas Day

Christmas at Hogwarts was, as always, a quite pleasant affair, although the castle was almost entirely deserted. Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione had agreed to meet down in the common room before any of them opened their gifts, as they wanted to be around to gage their friends' (or girl- or boy-friend's) reaction to the presents that they had had spent so much time in picking out.

Ron had gotten Hermione a book called "The History of Political Protest in the Wizarding World." He explained, "I figured it might be helpful for you if you wanted to really get your voice heard on the House-Elf issue. Not that I necessarily agree with you..." he trailed off.

"Thanks Ron, that's really awesome!" said Hermione.

Harry, who could not help reflecting that "awesome" was a really odd term to be throwing around where books about political protest were concerned, ignored the irony and simply opened Ginny's gift.

She had gotten him a cloak, and he was confused about this until she explained that the cloak had been charmed (in connection with some extra lessons Ginny had asked for from Professor Flitwick) to protect the wearer. "It's not all that strong, but if you're wearing it, it will deflect one unforgivable curse before giving out." She hesitated for a moment, as if considering whether this topic was really fit for Christmas-talk, before saying, "I just figured it might come in useful, since you-know-who is bound to come after you again."

Harry was shocked. "How'd you know?" he asked quickly, before he actually put a lot of thought into what he was saying.

"How'd I know what?" asked Ginny confusedly.

"About the pro-" Harry cut himself short, suddenly realizing that maybe he had jumped the gun in assuming that Ginny already knew about the prophecy.

"About the what?" asked Ginny, concernedly.

But Hermione, it seemed, was once step ahead of the game. "You were going to say 'prophecy' weren't you?"

"What- I- no," denied Harry unconvincingly, having figured out that he was still the only one of the four of them who knew what the prophecy said, and desiring to keep it that way.

"You were talking about the prophecy, weren't you? The one about you and you-know-who, that the death-eaters were after in the Ministry of Magic building last term. You know what it says, don't you?" asked Hermione.

Well, there was no use denying it now, Hermione had figured it out, and both Ginny and Ron were now eyeing Harry suspiciously. If there was one thing worse than having Ron, Hermione and Ginny worried about him, it was having them suspicious that he was lying. So he conceded, "Yes, I know what it says."

"Why haven't you told us then?" asked Ginny, sounding offended.

"Well, I just didn't want you guys being overly concerned about it," said Harry, defensively.

"Trying to protect us again? Why do you think that you're the only one who can handle knowing? Why can't you let other people try to help you?" asked Ginny, her temper flaring.

"I..." Harry trailed off. "Look... are you guys sure that you want to know?"

They all nodded fervently, and so he recited the prophecy for them, and then looked around at the group again, to gage the collective response.

"Wow," said Ron. "I was kind of hoping we were done with the dangerous stuff, but I guess things are only going to get worse. I'm game though. If you get to kill the Dark Lord, maybe that means I'll get to kill Lucius Malfoy or something." Harry grinned. He could tell that this joke was Ron's way of showing his support.

"I knew there must be _some _reason he was always after you," said Hermione. "It's really not all that suprising."

Well, I'm somewhat surprised. But, Harry, I'm still here for you. I just wish you had felt you could trust me with this and that it hadn't just come out accidentally," said Ginny.

"Well... Maybe if you open your gift from me, it'll reassure you a bit," said Harry, smiling.

She opened a box of what appeared to be assorted chocolates.

"They're a new invention of the twins'," explained Harry. "If someone eats one, it has an effect like a mild dose of Veritaserum. Each chocolate is strong enough to force the eater to answer three questiosn with absolute honesty. And, even though I know what they look like, I'll eat one any time you want me to, if you feel you can't trust me about something. I want you to know that you can always trust me. Oh, and, since this gift was rather sentimental, I also got you some more practical supplies from the twins' shop as well." He gestured to the box that had been beside the box of chocolates, which contained assorted goods from the twins' store.

"Well, I think I can trust you without making you eat any of these, but I'll keep some handy just in case," said Ginny with a smile that confirmed that she had decided not to get mad at him. "Although it really might be interesting to slip these to some unexpecting housemates once term start back up. There's a couple of people who I think like each other but won't admit to it... Seamus and Parvati Patil, for instance." she smiled mischeviously.

They opened the rest of their gifts before heading down to the Great Hall for the Christmas day feast.

The Great Hall was nearly empty, as was usual for this time of year. Aside from the staff who had remained, there were only Harry, Ron, Hermione, two 4th year Hufflepuffs, and a Ravenclaw 1st year.

They were all sitting at the same table, as Dumbledore had, like in third year, decided that house tables were superfluous in such circumstances. The first year Ravenclaw, who ended up sitting next to Ginny, turned out to be named Lucy Smith. Unfortunately for her, sitting on her other side was Snape. Ginny, who felt sorry for the nervous-looking first year, made an effort to include her in their conversation. They found out that the reason that Lacy was still at the school was that her parents were off on important Ministry business in another country, and she was not able to come along.

After dinner, Harry bade goodbye to his friends, and explained that he had a lesson that he had to attend.

"What? It's the holidays, remember?" asked Ron.

"Yeah, but remember I told you I've got to start my Occlumency back up with Dumbledore today?" asked Harry.

And so, fifteen minutes later, Harry was once again in Dumbledore's office.

"All right, I had a chat with Professor Snape about what exactly he taught you while he was in charge of your lessons. Overall, he wasn't too far off-base, although I think that he may have been slightly impatient with you. I will now give you a few tricks to help you clear your mind, so that you will be able to withstand a mental attack."

Harry nodded in agreement, so Dumbledore continued.

"All right. For our first lesson, why don't you focus on one of the portraits on my wall?" Harry picked out a portrait of a particularly decrepit-looking former headmaster. "All right. Now, I when I tell you to begin, I want you to close your mind and focus all of your mental energy on visualizing every detail of that portrait Then, keep trying to push every thought that is not related to visualizing that picture out of your mind. This portrait should have no emotional significance for you, so if you're doing this right, your emotions should be fading at that point. Now, when you've gotten to that point, you should try to take the portrait out of focus. Erase details of the portrait until all you are visualizing is a framed whiteness without a portrait in it. Once you are at that point, your mind should be, for all intents and purposes, blank. And when I attempt to read your mind then, I should be unable to recover anything other than the blank portrait. Are you ready to try?" he asked.

Harry nodded.

"Good. Begin now. I will give you 30 seconds before I perform the spell to read your mind."

Harry followed the instructions, and by the time Dumbledore shouted "Legilimens!" Harry was vaguely surprised to hear him, as he had been focusing so hard on the blank portrait in his mind that he had forgotten where he was. But he quickly recovered from the shock and started focusing on the portrait again. It was something like 10 seconds before Harry's concentration broke, and that was only because one of the portraits hanging on the wall had commented, "He's doing better than I thought he would."

At this, Harry lost focus, and began to think about the portraits. That brought to the forefront of his mind the other times when he had looked at the portraits, all of the other times that he had been in Dumbledore's office. And as these visits to Dumbledores office had usually come at some of the most emotional moments of Harry's life, Harry soon lost his emotionless state. Soon, Dumbledore had broken into his thoughts.

When Dumbledore broke contact, he said, "Well... Not perfect, obviously, but still an improvement over your last lesson, I daresay. That was quite good for your first try after such a lapse in practice. Do you feel up to one more go tonight?"

Harry nodded, and so they tried it again. This time, Harry was able to concentrate for about 15 seconds before he felt an uncontrollable nagging voice at the back of his mind that said "Well, if you had only been this good at Occlumency last year, Sirius would still be here." Harry immediately realized that the thought had been unfounded, and knew that it would do no good for him to start feeling guilty again. But the damage had already been done and his concentration broken. Dumbledore had been able to break into his mind.

Dumbledore dismissed him for the night and said that he was making good progress, and that they would meet again the next night. Although it was still rather disconcerting allowing someone else to read his emotions, Harry was rather pleased at his progress. It was good to be on good terms with Dumbledore once again, and even better that he was doing something which might eventually give him one more advantage in the fight against Voldemort and his death-eaters. Harry reckoned he needed all the advantages he could get.

A/N: All right, I know some other people have included some similar mind-clearing tactics for Occlumency in their fanfictions, but I think mine is original enough to be justified... Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Also, I'm rather curious as to whether anyone is actually reading this far in this story. If not, there's really no reason for me to continue. Just to be clear, this is not a review-ultimatum (I hate it when people do that), so I will continue either way. However, I like writing my other fic a lot more than writing this one (because it's better, and much funnier), so I'm not all that motivated to update this one too often, and I think it would help me to be motivated more often if I knew that I had readers... That's all I'm saying.


	22. The New Year

Chapter 22

The New Year

The rest of the month of December passed by pleasantly enough. Some of the time was spent catching up on some homework that had piled up toward the end of the previous term. The rest of the time was devoted to games of Wizarding Chess and Exploding Snap punctuated by Occlumency lessons from Dumbledore. Dumbledore assured Harry that he was making good progress, but things weren't going quite as fast as Harry would have liked. He was getting better at keeping Dumbledore out of his mind using the portrait trick, but he had a sneaking suspicion that any Dark Wizard trying to read his mind was not going to politely give him 30 seconds to focus on a portrait and then mentally erase bits of it until it was gone. Dumbledore assured him that with more practice, the time required would go down until the point that he would be able to clear his mind almost instantly, but Harry wished that time would come sooner, because only after he had mastered Occlumency would he able to practice the much finer art of Legilmancy so that he might be able to read the minds of some of Voldemort's trusted supporters. Still, his increasing level of proficiency in Occlumency did mean that he was now able to clear his head each night and not have to worry about Voldemort infiltrating his dreams.

On New Years' Eve night, as Ginny Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting together in the common room, Harry got a bit of cabin-fever. Ron and Hermione were rather too busy in deep conversation with one another (Harry felt that the only reason that they were not doing something more personal than conversing was that he and Ginny were still in the room) to be of much company to he and Ginny. Thus, Harry told Hermione and Ron that he and Ginny would be heading down to the kitchens to grab some food from the house-elves.

After he retrieved his invisibilty cloak from his room (it was already past curfew) he and Ginny made their way out of the portrait-hole.

"I'm not really hungry," observed Ginny, as they began to walk down the corridor.

"Yeah, me neither... I was actually thinking we might go outside for a bit," said Harry.

"Harry, it's really cold out there, and I didn't bring a cloak..." said Ginny.

"Never fear," said Harry in a voice of mock-masculinity as he revealed two warm cloaks (one each for he and Ginny) which had been concealed under the invisibility cloak.

"Well, all right then, you seem to have thought of everything. Except... Well... I'm sure Hermione would say it's too dangerous to go wandering around the grounds by ourselves at night for no reason..." said Ginny.

"I have a feeling that Hermione's probably too... _busy _with your brother right now to say much of anything," countered Harry.

"Ooooh, I don't even want to _think _about that. They're probably snogging right now, aren't they?" asked Ginny, in a tone of exaggerated disgust.

"Probably. But, what do you say, will you go for a walk with me? It won't be dangerous if we're both out there, it's not like Voldemort's lurking on the Hogwarts grounds, and we won't meet Malfoy or anybody out there, he's still home for the holidays," said Harry.

"Oh, all right," Ginny conceded. "I wouldn't want to be controlling or anything... I'm just glad you're letting me in on this bout of rule-breaking."

When they left the common room, it had been about 11 pm, so by the time they made it out to the grounds, it was about a quarter after. The moon was nearly full, and was shining brightly on the light layer of snow that had fallen recently.

"Romantic, isn't it?" asked Ginny, after they had walked for a few minutes in silence, looking at the starry sky.

"Yeah, it's hard to believe in evil on a night like tonight, isn't it? Hard to imagine that someone out there wants you and me dead," said Harry. He was aware that he had probably ruined the mood, but he was sharing his emotions, which was, as he understood it, what Ginny wanted. She told him so often enough anyway.

"Yeah, well... Really, he only wants you dead. I mean, he'd kill me eventually if he took power, I'm sure, because dear old Dad likes muggles too much, but as of yet I don't imagine he even knows my name," said Ginny, laughing lightly.

"That's what I like about you, Ginny," said Harry, grinning. "Er, well... one of many things, anyway. You can find humor in the darkest places."

"Yeah, well... Only because I know he'll never really take power. You might be surprised to know this, but I'm actually more confident of that now that I know about the prophecy. I really can't think of anyone more suited than you to be the one to face the Dark Lord in the end. You've taken him out of power once already, haven't you? And I'm sure by the next time you face him, you'll have learned enough to finish him off properly," she said, smiling again.

"Thanks Ginny. You're taking this better than I thought you would. Better than I am, maybe," he said thoughtfully.

This was more sentimental than Harry usually got, Ginny reflected. Perhaps having such a caring, sensitive girlfriend was helping him to open up more than he usually would, she thought with a small smile to herself.

"You know, I don't know if I tell you this enough," said Harry, seriously, "but you're really the best girlfriend I could ask for."

Uh-oh, thought Ginny. Things were getting a bit too sappy now. He might tell her he loved her if they weren't careful, and she wasn't quite sure she was ready to hear that. Yes, she reckoned she loved him, to the extent that she had it worked out what exactly that word meant, and she thought that he loved her too, but she still wasn't ready to have it all out in the open yet. It put too much pressure on the situation, she thought. Better to just relax for a bit and have a fun, school-age relationship for awhile.

And so, in a timeless maneuver, she brought things back down to a school age level by saying, "You're an all right guy too," and suddenly reaching down and scooping up a handful of snow, quickly packing it into a ball and throwing it at Harry before he had a chance to react.

"Cheap shot!" complained Harry, as he bent down to scoop up a bit of snow as well. Ginny took this time to retreat a few steps. As Harry threw his snowball, she ducked down, allowing it to soar over her arched back, as she packed another snowball. They ran around the grounds, making enough noise that they had occasion to wonder whether they might not end up waking Hagrid in his cabin.

After they had run themselves pretty much to exhaustion and were beginning to remember just how cold it was outside (especially with snow covering one's cloak) Ginny glanced at her watch. "Ah, three minutes to midnight..." she said.

"I'm not sure whether I can kiss you... You might just be using this as a ploy to get close to me so that you can drop a snowball down my back," said Harry teasingly.

"I'm sneaky, but I'm not _that _sneaky. How about a snow-truce for the rest of this year?" she asked, putting an effort into making her voice sound innocent.

"Er, well... it's against my better judgment, but all right," said Harry, and as midnight approached, so Harry approached Ginny. He was rewarded with a spectacular kiss to ring in the new year.

Two days later, the term started again in full force, and with the first Tuesday of the term, the Defense Against the Dark Arts dueling club had another meeting.

"The spell that I'm going to teach you tonight is rather complex. All the spells that we've been learning so far have been mostly pretty basic, as the focus of this club to this point has been speed, as is natural for a dueling club. However, I feel it necessary to teach this spell to you. I will caution you that if you ever find yourself in a real duel," at this point in the lecture, she looked over at Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, as it was widely recongnized that they were the four members of the club with the most probability of getting into an actual duel in the near future, "you should not use this spell unless you are confident of your opponents inability to turn it back against you. The best way to do this would be to disarm your opponent, or render him speechless using the incantation which I taught you during an earlier meeting."

She continued. "The incantation for this spell is 'lysiarmus,' and its effect is to break a wand, rendering it completely useless for good, which is why you wouldn't want this spell to bounce back at you. As wands are very powerful magical objects, the spell takes a lot of force to overcome this magic. For all practical purposes, it'd be much simpler to take the wand and snap it with your bare hands, but obviously you'll never get the chance to do this in an actual duel (unless you launch a disarming spell that gets your opponents' wand far enough away, but that's doubtful), so this spell is your best bet. Obviously, we can't practice such a spell in a fair duel, as we wouldn't want you all breaking your wands. Thus, I have struck a bargain with Fred and George Weasley and have consequetly come across a large number of fake wands," at this point, Tonks gestured at a box of fake wands, "which will turn into miniature rubber forms of various barnyard animals whenever they are broken. I apologize that no true duels will take place tonight, but it will probably take you all several attempts to actually break your opponents' wand. When I told them what I'd be using the wands for, the talented Weasley twins actually did manage to make these wands just as hard to break as the genuine article. Although they tend to use their smarts for jokes, they really can do some useful things."

They broke into pairs and began to practice the spell. Cries of "Lysiarmus" echoed throughout the room, but nothing else happened.

"You're going to have to focus harder than that!" encouraged Tonks. "Really _want _to make that wand explode into a barnyard animal replica!"

Harry and Ginny were taking turns holding a fake wand while the other shot the spell at it. On Tonks' instructions, the real wands were kept well out of range when this was going on.

After several dud attempts, Ginny was actually the first in the class to break a fake wand. There was a small round of applause from the crowd of increasingly frustrated students as the wand Harry was holding turned into a small rubber goat.

Harry, because of his naturally competitive nature, could not stand to be shown up for too long, even by his own girlfriend, and therefore put new focus into his attempts to break Ginny's fake wand. Hermione turned Ron's fake wand into a toy sheep at about the same time as Harry turned Ginny's into a miniature rubber cow. Ron got his next, and after that much of the rest of the club struck successes too. By the end of the meeting, each student had broken several wands, and felt confident that they could actually use this spell in a duel.

"Congratulations," said Tonks, as they all prepared to leave the classroom, "but I would caution you not to use this spell except in actual combat with dark wizards, as the penalties for using this spell on, say, a random Slytherin walking down the corridor, would be rather severe. Wands are very valuable and thus, while this spell is not on the level of "Unforgivable," it certainly could award you some hefty legal trouble if used inappropriately."

Harry left the club that night confident in the knowledge that having Tonks as a DADA teacher this year would help him next time he was in a duel.

A/N: Ew... The first part of this chapter got rather sappier than I had intended, but I'm going to put it up anyway. I have finally come to terms with the fact that I have no control over where this story goes... I'm not steering, I'm just recording what comes into my head... Oh well... By the way, as this update would suggest, I have decided now that I shall definitely continue with this fic, and i hope to update both this and the parody fairly regularly between now and mid-July when Book 6 appears. It currently appears that this story will have 8 more chapters (unless something _really _unexpected makes it into my head), so I plan to update this story (hopefully) at least once every three or four days. As always, reviews are encouraged, because not only does it give me more motivation to write, it also helps me to know what i'm doing right and wrong with this fic. By the way, thanks very much to Old-Crow, Mearas, and Phoenix3790 for the encouraging reviews, and phoenix, i hope this was quick enough for you : )


	23. Gryffindor v Ravenclaw

Chapter 23:

Gryffindor v. Ravenclaw

The next Quidditch match was fast approaching as classes got back into full swing in the first weeks of January. The match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw was set for the first weekend of February.

The Gryffindor team all sat together to watch the match between Hufflepuff and Slytherin on the third Saturday in January. Ravenclaw had beaten Hufflepuff during their first match back in late September and thus the game that was being played on that cold January afternoon would determine who was going to be ranked last after the second set of matches had been concluded. The Gryffindor team, along with most of the rest of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, had joined with Hufflepuff in sporting Hufflepuff's Yellow and Black. It seemed that nobody outside of Slytherin house could think of any team better suited for last place than was Slytherin.

Things were looking rather bleak for Hufflepuff toward the beginning of the match, as Hufflepuff's chasers were nothing to brag about and their keeper, to put it bluntly, didn't seem like he had ever used a broom before for anything other than housecleaning. However, by the time the score had risen to 140 to 60 in favor of Slytherin, the Hufflepuff seeker, a talented third year named Doug Wilson, spotted the Snitch. Had Malfoy not been so distracted by a bludger (which had, incidentally, been accidentally sent at him by one of his own beaters) he may have been able to catch up, but as it was, the match ended 210 to 140 in favor of Hufflepuff.

The stands erupted in applause. Ron, who was currently in the habit of kissing Hermione at the slightest provocation, (probably to make up for the lost time when he should have been going out with her for the last 3 years...) took advantage of the moment. Harry gave Ginny a quick peck as he contemplated that it was too bad that she didn't wear yellow more often, as it actually suited her quite well.

At the next Quidditch practice after that match, Harry gave a quick pep-talk (he was getting much better at these).

"All right, as you've all probably worked out, if we win this match, we're in first place in the running for the cup. I think we can do it too, we've just got to practice really hard at these next to practices before the match. And we've already done one thing we can be proud of: helped put Slytherin in last in the running!" said Harry enthusiastically.

Practice went spectacularly, sa the chasers were forced to practice more and more cunning feints and maneuvers to outwit Ron who was becoming about as good as Harry remembered Oliver Wood having been. Kirke and Sloper were coming very much into their own as beaters as well, and had now practiced their aim to the point where they could knock a bludger into an unguarded goal from nearly half way across the pitch. As they walked back to the locker-rooms after the practice, Harry reflected that the Cup was nearly in Gryffindor's trophy case.

The first weekend in February came very fast as classes settled back into the normal pattern, and soon the team was eating their traditional pre-game breakfast in the great hall. As usual before a match, everbody was having a little bit of trouble getting food to settle into their slightly nervous stomachs.

"Come on you guys! You've got no reason to be nervous!" said Hary cheerfully in spite of the fact that he was nursing some pre-game jitters as well. "I think we're probably as good as the team we had during my third year, and we won the cup that year. Besides, we won the cup last year, and we've definitely made improvements since then! Last year the team was half-full of rookies for the last two matches!"

More to get Harry to stop trying to be so peppy at such an early hour than because they were actually convinced, the rest of the team obligingly shoveled some food into their mouths.

As the team was pulling on their game robes, Harry decided that a very short speech would suffice this time. "All right, you guys, you know you can win this match, just get out there and do it. No pressure though," added Harry with a grin, mostly to dispel the rumors that he knew were circulating about him "being as uptight as Wood."

Once Madam Hooch gave the order for the teams' captains to shake hands, Harry and Cho shook hands briefly. Harry was proud of himself for the fact that he felt no physical attraction to her at all as he eyed her to determine whether she was as nervous about this game as he was. From the look in her eyes, she was even more nervous than he was.

The teams mounted their brooms and the game began, and Gerald Rosser once again began with the commentary.

"Ravenclaw begins with posession, as the quaffle is carried up the field by fourth year chaser Stabley. Oooh- A bludger hit by Gryffindor's Kirke knocks the ball out of her hands. It's recovered by Chaser Weasley. She passes off immediately to Bell, who passes to Finnigan who... puts it straight past the Ravenclaw seeker after a spectacular feint. 10 - 0 Gryffindor."

Harry was flying around looking for the Snitch while keeping an eye on Cho to make sure that she didn't spot it before he did. He also kept an ear out for the commentary to make sure that the rest of the game wasn't going badly enough that he would have to call a time-out to talk strategy. However, it seemed that his team had everything pretty much under control, the score quickly increasing to 40-10 in Gryffindor's favor.

Harry saw the Snitch across the field. It was closer to Cho than it was to him, but he wagered that he could still make it there before she could, especially given that it would take at least a second or two for her to see the snitch once she realized what he was diving at and then to set her course toward it. So he began a dive. Cho's eyes flickered toward him and then began to serach frantically for the snitch. By the time she was about 10 feet away from it, coming from below, he was a scant three feet above it. Unfortunately, at that moment, a bludger hit Harry's broom, knocking him off course so that his hand passed six inches to the right of his outstreched fingers. Cho was still three feet below the snitch when Harry, who had yet to regain control of his still diving broom, ran into her.

They collided and were carried a few feet down by the superior momentum of Harry's broom before both managed to regain control of their courses. By this time, the snitch was well out of sight. Harry was largely disappointed by this turn of events, but was glad that at least Cho hadn't come up with the snitch, and he was also slightly appeased by the fact that his team had scored another goal while all this had been going on, so that the score was 50-10 in Gryffindor's favor.

By the time the score had increased to 100-30 in Gryffindor's interest, the Ravenclaw fans seemed to be getting rather quiet. Slytherin was still booing vigorously every time Gryffindor got a goal, but this was more out of hatred for Gryffindor than support for Ravenclaw. The Hufflepuff fans were mostly rooting for Gryffindor, returning the favor of Gryffindor rooting for them during last match, and hoping that the team that had dealt them their only loss of the season so far would get their come-uppance.

Ron was working spectacularly as keeper, seeming to be able to guard all three goals at once. Kirke and Sloper seemed not to have missed a trick since the bludger that had prevented Harry from catching the Snitch, and Ginny, Seamus, and Amy were working together like a well-oiled machine.

By about forty minutes into the game, the score was 220-60 in Gryffindor's favor, and Hufflepuff had been unable to score any points in the last five minutes, during which time Gryffindor team had scored 4 goals.

At just that moment, Harry saw a familiar gold glint hovering four feet to the left of Cho's knee, which had apparently been as yet unnoticed by her (the glint, not the knee. She had been fully aware of her knee. Took great pride in it, actually). He immediately sprang into action, diving down and in the opposite direction as the Snitch was hovering, hoping to draw Cho's attention away. However, before Cho followed him, she gave a quick glance in the opposite direction. Apparently, she had been expecting the use of a feint and would not go blindly into a dive. Well, she wasn't in Ravenclaw for no reason, then, Harry thought bitterly, as she quickly turned in the correct direction and effortlessly grabbed the Snitch.

The final score, however, was 220 to 210 in Gryffindor's favor. Cho had apparently realized that her team was not going to catch up, and decided, instead of risking Harry getting the Snitch and winning the match by over 300 points, that she would opt for a smaller margin that would still allow a Ravenclaw victory in the tournament provided that Ravenclaw won the next match against Slytherin if Hufflepuff beat Gryffindor badly enough.

Harry steered his broom to the ground feeling very put out. It took him a moment before he remembered why the rest of Gryffindor house was cheering.

"Harry, why do you look so down?" asked Amy Bell, curiously.

"That's the first time I ever didn't retrieve the snitch... except for that time when the dementors distracted me. I almost let you guys down," he said.

"Don't be stupid," said Ron simply.

"Look, that Snitch was completely out of your reach, and you almost got her off of it with that feint," registered Seamus.

"Besides, you'd've had the Snitch ten minutes into the game if that hadn't been the one _particular _moment when one of the bludgers got away from us," said Sloper.

"Yeah, b'sides, you didn't let us down at all... As captain you've been responsible for organizing this team and making sure we've got everything down. Wood was glad about the victories you won even if he did let a few quaffles past him during a game!" said Ginny.

"All right, fine! You've convinced me. It doesn't matter that I missed the Snitch. Now, is anybody up for a party in the Gryffindor common room?" asked Harry, convinced that he had somehow come across the best team a Quidditch captain could ask for.

A/N: All right, just had to get in the next Quidditch match before developing the plot any further... Next chapter: Harry gets good enough at Occlumency to start practicing Legilimancy.


	24. Legilimancy

A/N: All right, then, I know it's been awhile since my last update (all right, only a few days, actually, but it seems longer to me for some reason) but here it is. This chapter was a bit tough to write, and I'm definitely curious to find out what people think about it. Thanks for reading and (hopefully) reviewing! (Also, I would just like to say that I think it's really cool that fanfiction dot net now seems to be offering the hit counter for free! Awesome!)

Chapter 24

Legilimancy

Once the term had started up again Dumbledore had cut down his occlumency training lessons with Harry so that they now occurred twice weekly, once Monday evenings, and once on Friday during the day, as Harry had no other classes that day. He was progressing nicely, and by the end of February, he was able to block Dumbledore from his mind without any preparation time. They had worked down from the thirty seconds of concentration time that Dumbledore had originally given him, and now Harry was able to clear his mind basically instantaneously.

"The next step in Occlumency," said Dumbledore, after praising Harry for his newfound adeptness at clearing his mind, "will be to learn how to deceive someone who is trying to look in your mind. However, alongside training you to do that, I also intend to train you in mind-reading and I think that it may now be time to begin with that."

"You're going to let me read your mind?" asked Harry, taken aback by the amount of trust this would show in him.

"We're not going to start out with you trying to read my mind, no. For reasons which I will explain momentarily, it would be more beneficial for you to start out with other, shall we say, 'victims.' But first, allow me to explain a little bit of the theory behind this."

Harry nodded to show his assent, and Dumbledore continued.

"As I'm sure you gathered from your lessons with Professor Snape last year, a wizard can tap into somebody's mind by pointing his wand at his target and reciting an incantation. However, this is only one method of mind-reading. As with other spells, the wand is used as a filter and concentrater of magical energy, thus allowing a spell to be cast. Thus, as with other spells, the magical connection that allows you to read somebody's mind is most easily created using a wand. However, in this case, the easiest way to go about it also happens to be practically useless in most situations. There is no better way to tip somebody off that you are reading their mind than pointing a wand at them and saying "legilimens." However, secret knowledge, which is the kind that is most likely to be sought when one is forced to resort to mind-reading, is normally useless once the bearer of the knowledge realizes that the secrecy has been breached. Therefore, I think it useless to teach you how to do this spell with a wand, but will go straight to teaching you how to do perform it without one. Obviously, once you know how to do it the hard way, it should be no problem for you to perform the incantation and read someone's mind that way, if you are ever in a situation wherein such a course of action is feasible. Do you understand what I'm saying so far?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes, I believe so. You want me to be able to read someone's mind without using a wand. I assume, however, that you're talking about something a bit more complicated than brewing up a potion and slipping it into someone's pumpkin-juice," said Harry, grinning slightly.

"Well, yes, I'm afraid so," said Dumbledore, returning the grin. "What I am suggesting you do is to read someone else's mind completely unaided. As I have implied before, it is best to think of mind-reading as a connection between two minds. Thus, the way to read someone's mind without a wand is to focus your entire mind on that person and their connection to you. Once you have focused deeply enough, you will form a psychic connection, and you will be able to hear their thoughts. At this point, you should have access to their stream of consciousness and will be able simply to eavesdrop, or, as you did with Mr. Malfoy, ask direct questions. Do you still understand?"

"I think so," said Harry, who was wondering whether he would be up to the task. Clearing his own mind was one thing, but reading another person's seemed like it would be much more complicated. Eliminating thoughts from his own mind seemed more doable than concentrating so completely on another person as to tap into their mind.

"Good. Now, the first time you do this, it should be with someone who you know very well, and thus have many thoughts about whom on which to concentrate. It should also be someone with whom you feel that you have a very strong connection. That is why I was of the opinion that, for your first attempts, at least, I might not be the easiest target. I thought perhaps you may be able to get one of your friends to volunteer to let you read their mind. This will be much easier to do than mind-reading would be in a practical situation, as this time it will not matter whether you allow your victim to notice your mental presence in their mind (there are ways to guard against detection which will be the subject of a later lesson). However, this alone should be challenging enough for someone who has only just mastered the basics of Occlumency. At any rate, do you think you can find someone who will let you read your mind?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes, I suppose Ron, Hermione, or Ginny would let me do that," said Harry. "Do you want me to bring one of them with me to next lesson?"

"That will not be necessary," said Dumbledore. "You can attempt to make the connection this weekend and tell me of your success or failure when we meet again on Monday. You will not be able to do any damage to your own or the other person's mind simply by attempting to make this connection, so there will be no danger in you doing so unsupervised," He explained.

For the rest of the lesson, he continued to fill Harry in on the theory of mind-reading and gave him more specific instructions on how he could make such a connection.

As usual, that evening, Harry met with Hermione, Ron, and Ginny to eat dinner in the Great Hall. When they asked him how his Occlumency lesson had gone, he explained about his continuing successes in Occlumency and the fact that he was now also receiving instruction in Legilimancy. This was all well and good, and Harry appreciated the impressed congratulations which came from Hermione, Ron, and Ginny on his success in what Hermione assured him was "far past 'N.E.W.T.' level magic." However, then came the awkward part.

"Er," said Harry carefully, "Dumbledore reckons that I ought to try to read someone's mind this weekend, and he says it should be someone who I know well and have a strong connection with. I thought that one of you three would be my best bet. But, of course, if you don't want to, I completely understand," added Harry.

"Of course we'd let you," answered Hermione quickly in a way that showed she didn't want to prolong Harry's awkwardness for any longer than necessary. "It's not like we have many secrets from each other anyway, and I'm not ashamed of anything. Giving up a bit of personal privacy is a small price to pay to further our cause."

"Yeah, mate, you can read my mind if you like," said Ron, reassuringly. "Just so long as you don't start asking me to come in with you for your lessons. I think your mad for taking on extra lessons just when the professors are getting more and more neurotic about making us study for our NEWTs for next year," said Ron, grinning.

"I think you should try on me," said Ginny. "I think that, lately at least, the connection between you and myself is the strongest you've got."

Harry looked at her and nodded slowly. This had been what he was thinking as well.

They had determined to try it that night in the common room. They had further decided that it would be best to do this once everybody else had gone to sleep to avoid any questions from curious onlookers. Therefore, they stayed up talking until the Creevy brothers, who had been the last people to be present with them in the common room, went up to bed.

Harry gazed appraisingly at Ginny from his seat in an armchair opposite the one in which she was seated. "All right, so all you've got to do is to sit there and relax. As this is my first time, I would rather that you don't do anything to try to interfere, assuming that you know how. Just, one thing that you may want to do, is try to put your concentration on something that you wouldn't mind me knowing. If there's anything that you want to keep private, think of something else, and I'll try not to ask any mental questions that would lead you to anything that might be an uncomfortable subject."

"Harry," said Ginny seriously, "there's nothing that I need to keep private. I want you to be able to trust me, and so I've got no problem trusting you with any thought or memory that might cross my mind." After a moment's pause, she said, "Plus, it's not like I've _got _a whole lot of secrets. The only thing I'd keep secret under normal circumstances would be the whole nightmare with Riddle and his diary during my first year, but as you're the one who saved me from him, I kind of assumed that you already knew about that." She smiled, and Harry was once again struck by how she could find humor in even the darkest situations.

"All right, then just relax," said Harry, and Ginny closed her eyes peacefully as if getting ready to fall asleep.

Harry closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He concentrated on her bravery, on her wonderful sense of humor, her fierce loyalty, her gentle caring, her quick temper, and her kind smile. Everything that was the essence of Ginny Weasley. He also concentrated on his connection to her. He thought about his first sight of her at the train station before first year. He concentrated on the first time he had formally been introduced to her, before his second year began. He focused on the memory of finding her nearly lifeless form in the Chamber of Secrets less than a year later. He focused on how she had insisted upon coming with him to the Department of Mysteries last spring to try to save Sirius from Voldemort. He thought about the time, earlier this very year, when, after helping to save her from the Death-eaters whom had used her to lure him toward them, he first realized that what he was feeling for her just might be love. And he thought of the time, about two months ago, when the realization had hit him full force, after that love had helped to lessen the rage he was feeling toward Wormtail.

He concentrated on all of this and tried to push everything else out of his mind. He continued to think until he finally sensed a thought that was not his own, and he knew that he had tapped into Ginny's consciousness.

The first thought which he found there was simple enough, being, _I think I really may be in love with Harry Potter. _

Simple though the thought was, it caused him quite a bit of surprise, considering that this wasn't really the way that he had imagined coming across this particular bit of information. This, coupled with the surprise that he felt about actually being able to get into her mind so easily, was just enough of a shock to make him lose concentration and break the connection.

His eyes were immediately open as he blinked out at Ginny. "Really?" he asked.

Ginny looked for a moment as if she was feeling awkward, but then grinned and said, "Yeah, of course I love you. I wasn't really sure before, but I think that's the only explanation for it now... I don't think I could have been so okay about letting you read my mind if that weren't the case. I mean, I know Ron and Hermione volunteered as well, but I think they would have had certain thoughts that they wouldn't have wanted you having access to, or they at least would have been a bit nervous about making the connection. But when I closed my eyes, I had no trouble relaxing knowing that in a moment you would be able to read my thoughts. I trust you more than I have ever trusted anyone before, and that's because I love you." She paused for a moment before adding a playful afterthought. "I _further _trust that you love me too, because otherwise I think I may have just made a terrible fool out of myself."

"Yes, I love you," said Harry without hesitation. "And I've known it for a couple of months. That's why I was able to make the connection so easily, I don't reckon it would have been so quick even with Ron or Hermione."

They sat there for a moment, looking at each other as if they expected something impressive to happen now that they had both confessed their love for each other. When nothing extraordinary happened, Ginny laughed and said, "So, we love each other, then? Well, that's pleasant." Then they each got up from their chairs and kissed each other. And if they had been expecting something spectacular to happen because they had announced their love for each other, the kiss fully met these expectations.


	25. The disappearance of Lucy Smith

A/N: I had to make a correction to last chapter. I wanted the end of last chapter to take place at the end of February, not the end of January, as was originally posted. I have edited the previous chapter accordingly, but thought that I'd call attention to the change here to preempt any confusion.

Chapter 25

The Disappearance of Lucy Smith

As March began, Harry continued to progress with his occlumency and legilimancy skills, keeping with the schedule that Dumbledore had set for him. His other lessons were going well as well, even potions with McGonogall. He was still maintaining an Exceeds Expectations level minimum, and sometimes would manage to scrape together a potion which McGonogall considered to be truly "outstanding." She was giving him some freedom in the class and was allowing him to pick potions that he wanted to attempt off of a list of potions commonly found on the N.E.W.T.s. Each time he would pick a potion, he would be given a supplementary essay to write on its properties, uses, peculiarities of its ingredients, and so on. Overall, it was infinitely more pleasant than potions with Snape had ever been, and Harry also was pretty sure that he would be coming out of the class with the skills he would need to pass his Potions N.E.W.T. at the end of the next year.

By the end of the first full week in March, Harry was able to look forward almost optimistically to the future. He was constantly progressing in his Defense Against the Dark Arts, The Order of the Phoenix seemed to be keeping Voldemort from getting too strong (there were still news reports of occasional attacks in the muggle world as well as some assassinations within the wizarding world, but overall, things were better than expected), and it seemed quite possible that the next time he faced Voldemort might be the time when he actually beat him.

However, this optimstic mood was destined to be tested by a conversation with none other than Neville Longbottom. On Friday night, Harry was practicing a complex transfiguration charm after mostly everybody had gone to bed. Of course, he didn't usually work on homework late on Friday nights, but he had scheduled an intensive Quidditch practice for the next day (Harry was determined not to lose the next match, with the Quidditch cup so firmly within Gryffindor's sights now) and had a lot of homework that needed to be done for the next week, so he figured he'd get a head-start.

Harry and Neville were the last two people in the common room, and it took a while before Harry realized that Neville was looking at him intently.

"What's going on?" asked Harry, concerned at the look on Neville's face.

"Well, I was..." Neville trailed off.

"What is it?" asked Harry, again. He could somehow sense that Neville wanted to talk about something, but felt uncomfortable about bringing it up. Harry supposed Neville didn't really have too many people to go to at school when he wanted to talk about something. Harry always had Ron and Hermione, and now Ginny as well. He had never really thought about who exactly it was that Neville hung around with.

"Well... It's stupid, it's just... Today's my mum's birthday, and it just, you know, it got me thinking," he said quickly, as if he wanted to get it out before he stopped himself.

"That's not stupid at all," said Harry frowning. "There's not a day that goes by when I don't think of my parents. And now it's the same with Sirius. And it makes sense that it would be especially hard on a day when you should be celebrating her life. There's nothing stupid about the way you're feeling, but sometimes it really does help to talk about it. I'm still amazed that it took so long before you discussed this with anyone here."

Neville was silent for a bit. "D'you reckon I've improved at dueling this year? Be honest," he added hastily, as if assuming that Harry would simply tell him what he thought he wanted to hear.

So, in order to really do what Neville wanted, and be honest with him, Harry took a moment and thought back to the Dueling Club meetings and the Defense Against the Dark arts lessons that had also sometimes featured dueling.

"Yeah," said Harry after giving the question the proper amount of consideration, "I think that you definitely have. It's only natural, now we've finally got a proper Defense Against the Dark Arts' Teacher again."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Neville doubtfully. "It is only natural. But... well... I was kind of hoping to improve more than was, you know, only natural. I... I want to be able to duel properly if I ever get to the point where I meet up with a dark wizard again."

Harry was somewhat relieved to hear that he wasn't the only one who was thinking along the lines of preparing for the next battle. And then he thought that it was actually really sad that his generation was being forced to think about stuff like this at an age where their biggest concern should have been who would win the house cup at the end of the term. "I'm sure you'll be ready if you ever encounter one again. I mean, it's not as if we expect there to be another battle tomorrow or anything, do we?" asked Harry, in a voice which tried but failed to sound convincing. If he was honest with himself, he had to admit that he would not be confident in ruling out the possibility of having another encounter with deatheaters soon. He had, in fact, already had two during this school year.

"I'm not so sure about that," said Neville, hesitantly, as if reluctant to challenge Harry's position. "And besides, it could never hurt to be more prepared. I was just wondering..." And then Neville's courage seemed to falter, and it seemed he would not continue.

"What is it, Neville?" asked Harry. Part of him was growing impatient with Neville for not simply getting to the point, but the rest of him was more sympathetic.

"Well, I was just wondering whether you would mind giving me a little bit of extra help with dueling or something?" asked Neville, flushing slightly.

"Sure," said Harry, after some consideration. It would mean extra work, and he already had quite a bit of homework, as well as the extra occlumency lessons with Snape, and the Dueling club, but he still wasn't quite as stressed out as he had been at the beginning of fifth year, and it was impossible to deny that Neville's request was a sound one. It would not hurt at all to practice against the Dark Arts a little more. "Why don't I see if Hermione, Ron, and Ginny want to do some extra practice as well, and we'll check with Dumbledore to see if we can use the room of Requirement some night during the week?"

Neville nodded. "I just want to make sure that I can win in a duel if I ever have the chance. I kind of hope I get a go at Bellatrix Lestrange some day. I know-" Neville hesitated again, then continued, "I know my parents would want me to avenge them."

In that moment, looking at the determined look on Neville's face, Harry couldn't help but hope with Neville that Neville would someday meet Lestrange in a duel. And Harry knew at that moment that he would have to do everything within his power to make sure that Neville was prepared if the moment ever came.

That night, as Neville and Harry had this quiet conversation in the warmth of the dying fire, part of Harry tried to hold on to the belief that such talk was unnecessarily morbid. After all, there was still the possibility that Voldemort might be kept contained. Even if Harry was the only one who could actually kill Voldemort, according to the prophecy, wasn't there still a chance that aurors could capture Voldemort and bring him to justice? Although the prospect seemed unlikely, it seems as if there's something about human nature that makes us want to hold out hope for the best until we are proven wrong in a rather conclusive way.

As it happened, for Harry, this conclusive rebuttal would come three nights later, in the form of a speech from Dumbledore in the Great Hall during the evening meal. After McGonnogal hurried over to him and whispered something in his ear, he rose gravely from his seat, and began to make a short impromptu speech.

"Students, I regret to inform you all that we will now have a need once again for stricter security measures within this school of the type that have not been exercised since the opening of the Chamber of Secrets four years ago. One of your fellow students has recently gone missing. While there is no definitive cause for panic at this early stage, considering that she has been gone for only 24 hours, I think that it would be best to play on the side of caution. We have already conducted a search of the castle, and have not been able to find her. The student in question is the Ravenclaw student Lucy Smith. Of course, if anyone knows anything about her whereabouts, it would be very much appreciated if you would tell someone in a position of authority everything you know immediately," finished Dumbledore, looking rather worn out and tired.

However, by the time Dumbledore and Harry met once again for their next Occlumency training session, no progress had been made in the attempts to locate the missing girl. When Harry asked Dumbledore what steps were being taken, Dumbledore thought for a moment, and then said, "I suppose that there is no reason not to allow you to know this, even though it is not usually information that would be divulged to a student. After all, you have already shown that you are not one who takes kindly to being kept in ignorance about things, an admirable sentiment, I might add. And I suppose that at this point, there is really no point in continuing to pretend that you are simply a student like any other. So, I shall reveal to you that we have searched the entire castle, as well as the grounds, have posted guards all around the grounds and castle to make sure that nobody will be able to enter the grounds to kidnap anybody else, and we have also been calling the Ravenclaws to the hospital wing one by one to keep them under observation for an hour each, to make sure that none of them are under the influence of poly-juice. We had thought it possible that someone whom she thought was in her own house had lured her away, which is why there were no obvious signs of any resistance in the castle, nor any reports of screaming or anything else that would indicate a struggle." Dumbledore looked at Harry for a moment, and then seemed to decide that if he was going to tell Harry things like this, he might as well make the most of it, because the next thing that he said was, "Can you, perhaps, think of anything that we may have missed?"

Harry thought for a moment. "You don't think it might be Malfoy, do you?" asked Harry, slowly.

"The thought has crossed my mind, but there is no way that we can prove it," answered Dumbledore. "At this point, all we can do is make sure that all students are accompanied at all times so that if Draco Malfoy is the source of the problems, he will not be able to pick anyone else off."

"But, couldn't you read his mind or something to make sure it wasn't him?" asked Harry.

"I don't think it would be wise at this point for me to go around reading students' minds. Doing so would make it seem as if I have no regard for people's natural rights. While I agree that at some points, disregard for people's personal privacy is well founded, I do not think that we have yet reached that point. Hogwarts is still the safest place on the planet for anyone to be, as has been acknowledged in most of the letters I have received since news of this unfortunate disappearance made it to the presses. If we began to disregard people's rights here, it seems as if it would be quite possible for the whole country to go into a state of panic. So, unless things get worse, which I sincerely hope they do not, we shall stand by the old caveat, 'Innocent until proven guilty,' especially as I find it very unlikely that a young girl like Lucy Smith would be wandering around by herself in the castle at night in order to give Malfoy a chance to attack her."

So, Dumbledore thought that the culprit was not Malfoy, but this really didn't help matters at all. That simply meant that there was an unknown enemy on the grounds who was not above kidnapping first year students. It seemed as if Neville's worries of encountering a death-eater in the near future may have been well-founded after all.

A/N: All right, that's it for this chapter... Sorry it took so long to update. I'm now thinking that I can probably wrap this story up in 3 or 4 chapters, depending on how things go, so it still looks like I'll be able to finish this before the sixth book comes out. Anyway, any reviews would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who have been reviewing regularly lately, so thanks to seekerchic, andymay, mearas, and phoenix3790. Also, thanks to EvilLadyofDarkness, your review was very encouraging, it's nice to know what I'm doing right. :)


	26. Gryffindor v Hufflepuff

Chapter 26

Gryffindor v. Hufflepuff

The next two months passed by slowly, but basically uneventfully for those in Hogwarts Castle. Lucy Smith had still not been found, so the extra security precautions that had been triggered by her disappearance were still in effect as June began. The precautions appeared to be working as well, as no other students had disappeared, although a few attacks had taken place elsewhere in the country, proving in a terrible fashion that the school still was the safest place in the country for a young witch or wizard to be in spite of the recent disappearance.

The dueling club headed by Tonks was even more popular in the two months after Lucy's disappearnce, as first and second years from Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor, who had not previously seemed all that interested in the club which focused mostly on magic beyond their ability, also started to join in hopes of gaining some practical skills with which to resist whatever unknown force in the school was apparently working for Voldemort. Tonks decided to split the club into two parts, one for first and second years, and the other for older students, in order to better accomodate the new interest. The older students would be tutored at the beginning of the evening, after which they would practice their more complicated spells while the younger children were tutored in simpler spells.

On Thursday nights, which had previously been his only free weekday evening, Harry, Neville, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny, had dueling sessions of their own to practice and continue improving. They would mostly focus on spells that they had been taught by Tonks, but would sometimes also come across spells of their own finding and would practice them as well.

Neville was coming along quite nicely, and while he was still not quite on the level of Harry or Hermione as far as spell-casting went, he was to the point where he was coming out with almost an even record when dueling Ron by the end of May.

Harry's Occlumency and Legilimancy training was progressing nicely as well. Dumbledore had advised him to find other people willing to let him read their minds, and so he had practiced on Ron, Hermione, and, eventually, Neville. When Harry reported back that he had successfully linked with Neville's mind and picked up his basic emotions and sentiments (which had been somewhat nervous but generally trusting toward Harry, with a backdrop of uncertainty toward the generally unresolved nature of life in the wizarding world as the second war threatened to break full-force), Dumbledore seemed somewhat surprised.

"But as I recall, young Mr. Longbottom has never been quite as close to you as Ron, Hermione, or Ginny, am I correct?" asked Dumbledore with an air of curiousity.

"Yes, sir, you're correct," said Harry. "Although I have been spending more time with him lately, as we've been practicing dueling together, as I mentioned."  
"Still... It seems that you've been able to work your way to detecting the thoughts and emotions of those who are linked to you less directly than are your closest friends," said Dumbledore.

"Well," said Harry, "I was thinking along the lines of how we were connected as being the two possible people to whom the prophecy could have referred and how we both had a great personal grudge against Bellatrix Lestrange. In addition, of course, to the obvious connections inherent in each of us being sixth year Gryffindors."

"Very good," said Dumbledore, sounding mildly impressed. "You seem quite capable in picking up on and concentrating on whatever connections exist between you and another person. Perhaps we shall soon assign you more difficult targets. And you have been making quite good progress in occlumency as well. You've nearly mastered the art of focusing so hard on a false thought as to make it seem true to anyone trying to look into your brain. That should come in quite useful if you are ever the subject of a Legilimens spell. I am not quite sure which direction we should proceed in at the moment, however, so I will not give you any homework for this weekend, and will instead think of something to assign to you on Monday at our next meeting."

That had been the way his lesson with Dumbledore had ended on the first Friday of June. It was actually quite a good thing that Dumbledore had seen fit to let him off without homework with that weekend, as the final Quidditch match of the season, between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, had been scheduled for that Saturday. Some of the professors had been rather wary of the prospect of having the final two Quidditch matches of the year, believing that such an occasion would be the optimal time for an attacker to kidnap another student.

But Dumbledore contended that there was no danger in holding the Quidditch matches, especially since during a Quidditch match, mostly all of the students in the school were out in the stands anyway, and were thus actually easier to look after than when they were all spread out in different lessons on a school day. And Dumbledore believed that if they were going to keep the lessons going, it was only fair that they allow students to enjoy Quidditch as well, a diversion even more necessary during the increasingly dark times that were upon the wizarding world.

On the previous Saturday, the match between Slytherin and Ravenclaw had been decided in Ravenclaw's favor, leading to Slytherin's first season without a win in many years. The rest of the school was quite pleased with this development, feeling it was no less than Slytherin house deserved after providing the membership of Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad during the previous year.

Friday night, Harry took a while to get to sleep, excited, as always about the prospect of another game of Quidditch.

The next morning when the Gryffindor team had gathered in the locker room, Harry gave a quick speech. "Okay, as you all are no doubt aware, if we win this game, we get the Quidditch cup, hands down, being the only undefeated team. Even if we lose, we are then one of three teams with a 2-1 record, so it would then come down to a matter of points. Although some of you may have figured out the point totals necessary to secure the cup without a victory in this game, I will not bother to address the topic here, because I quite believe that we can come off with a victory. Hufflepuff team's in a rather tough spot this year, still a rather young team, still developing their talent. So, I'm quite confident that we can come out of this game with a win as well as the cup, for the third year running. And, as you may recall, if we win this match, it will be our first three-win season since I have been on the team. Even the years when we won the cup, we did so with only two wins. So, lets have this year be the first where we beat each of the other houses!"

His teammates smiled at him confidently as they made their way out onto the pitch.

Things looked rather bleak for the Hufflepuffs from the beginning of the match; they seemed not to have improved much since their match with Slytherin. Their keeper, who had shown himself to be not quite up to the challenge of the mediocre Slytherin chasers, was absolutely no match for the combination of Bell, Ginny, and Finnigan. However, Ron was having a bit of an off-game himself, and so the score was a bit more even than it might have been, registering at 120 to 80 in Gryffindor's favor at the end of about twenty minutes.

Harry, however, was at the top of his game, and was briskly circling the pitch from a healthy distance above the action, keeping a watchful eye on Wilson, the Hufflepuff seeker, as well.

Just as Ginny increased Gryffindor's score to 130, one of Hufflepuff's beaters, while trying to defend one of their keepers from a roving bludger, hit the bludger toward Harry. Harry, diving to avoid it, managed to catch a glimpse of the Snitch toward the ground near the Hufflepuff goal post, at nearly the opposite end of the pitch from where he was.

Harry did some quick mental calculations to judge the situation before making a move. Wilson was about 30 yards closer to the Snitch than was Harry, but made no signs of having observed the golden ball. Although Wilson had seemed to be a good Seeker during his match with Slytherin, Harry knew he wasn't quite to his own level this early in his career as a seeker, and therefore, given Harry's advantage of having seen the Snitch first, he should probably have no problem in making it there first.

Of course, all of these mental calculations took Harry no more than about half a second, during which time he had been aiming his broom casually toward the Hufflepuff goal-posts anyway, and so once he decided that it was not necessary to feint, he went into a quick dive in the direction of the glittering Snitch.

Although Wilson had a quicker reaction time than Harry had anticipated, Harry had already gained 20 of the 30 yards that Wilson had originally been nearer the Snitch by the time Wilson went into a dive of his own. Harry, who had been picking up speed for a longer amount of time, continued to gain on Wilson as he tilted his broom into an even sharper dive in order to pick up more speed. He knew that this would put him a bit farther under the Snitch than he would have liked, but he reckoned he could still grab it if he stretched his arm.

While Harry was about 4 feet away from the Snitch, Wison was 3 feet away, coming in from slightly to the right. Harry reached out his hand, managing to maneuver it just in front of Wilson's outstretched hand, and then Harry grabbed the Snitch.

As both Seekers descended the remaining few feet to the ground, Wilson had a look of disappointment on his face. As soon as they landed, Harry went over to him to shake his hand. "You gave me quite a scare there, Wilson," said Harry truthfully. "I hadn't reckoned on you being quite so quick in seeing me make my move, or being so quick flying toward the Snitch once you saw it. You just about had that game won there."

"Would have too, if I'd gone against any other Seeker," said Wilson, grinning slightly. "I don't know how you managed to come in that fast on that dive. Oh, well. If I had to lose to somebody, it might as well have been you."

This quick conversation was all Harry was allowed before the rest of his team came over to start congratulated him on his spectacular catch, and started asking him whether he'd be up for a celebration in the Gryffindor common room.

The party went on for several hours, during which time the team and the fans recounted the most spectacular moments from throughout the season while generally stuffing themselves on sweets and pumpkin-juice that had been knicked from the kitchens.

After he was done celebrating, Harry was able to go into an easy sleep, which quite made up for the slightly restless night previous. He went to sleep in a very optimistic mood. At one point, he felt a pang of guilt at the thought that he should not be enjoying himself so much while Lucy was still missing and was probably being held captive (or worse) at the hands of the death-eaters. But then, he thought, perhaps it had all been some kind of misunderstanding. Maybe Lucy had simply felt too pressured by school and run away of her own accord. There was always a chance that she might be found the next morning, having been hiding out by herself in Hogsmeade, having simply desired to get away from it all for awhile.

However, it seemed as if Harry's opmtimistic moods were simply not destined to be long-lived. The next morning, quite opposite from a break-through in the case of Lucy Smith, the students were given another bit of startling news over breakfast. Doug Wilson had just gone missing.

A/N: All right... I'll admit, this chapter probably wasn't my best. It's just, I already put most of the action that I had planned out for this story toward the beginning of the year, and wanted to save the other bit of action for the end. So, this chapter was just kind of transitional, and therefore one chapter covered a couple of months. Oh well... Hopefully it was enjoyable anyway. For those keeping track, by the way (assuming you exist...), there should be between 2 and 3 chapters after this one. I know I'm cutting it close, but I'm still holding out hope that this story will be finished a couple of days before Half-Blood Prince thoroughly contradicts it, so be on the look out for another chapter soon.


	27. Wormtail's Offer

Chapter 27  
Wormtail's Offer

On the day when Doug Wilson's disappearance was announced to the school, there were 4 weeks left in the term. Security was tightened once again in response to this recent kidnapping, and this time, it was Hufflepuff students who were taken to the hospital wing to be kept under observation to make sure that they weren't taking Polyjuice potion. The mood in the school was tense, and people were beginning to feel increasingly as if the next victim could be anyone in the student body. It was one thing when the only victim had been a first year student. Such a kidnapping was sad and unfortunate, but didn't necessarily mean that older students were in danger. But if a third year Quidditch player, who was by all accounts rather adept at defensive spells was able to be victimized by whoever was doing the kidnapping, then there was really no telling who would be next.

Tonks' Dueling Club meeting for that Tuesday night had an attendance higher than any previous meeting, as even more students decided that it was necessary to learn how to defend themselves against potential attackers. But Neville, Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were beginning to find that the lessons with the rest of the club weren't helping them as much as they used to, as they were now rather advanced compared to the rest of their peers owing to the extra practice sessions which they were holding. Therefore, their really beneficial practice sessions came on Thursday nights.

However, on the Thursday evening after the disappearance of Doug Wilson, Neville, Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione set out to practice Defense Against the Dark Arts again, but got rather more than they bargained for.

They were preparing to pair off and have mock-duels (with one person rotating out each match, because there was an odd number of people) reviewing all of the spells that they had learned so far, but they were distracted by a rustling sound coming from the corner of the abandoned classroom where they held their practice-sessions.

When they looked over, they saw a rat scurrying on the floor. It took no time at all for all five of them to jump to the same conclusion: This was no true rat. It appeared that this time, Wormtail had screwed up and allowed them to spot him while he meant to be spying on them. Harry felt the familiar rage begin to bubble up inside him as he pointed his wand at the rat and opened his mouth to say, "Accio rat!"

But he never quite got the words out. It seemed that Wormtail had quite intended to be spotted after all, and instead of trying to scurry under the door or into a crack in the wall, he had instead began to transform back into a human. Five wands were pointed his way as he emerged, hunched over, on the floor of the classroom

Pettigrew, of course, had no wand on him, having just transformed. He seemed aware, however, that as noble as Harry was, his thirst for revenge might overcome his sense of chivalry and force him to curse the unarmed animagus into oblivion anyway.

Therefore, as Pettigrew stood up, holding out his hands palms out to reinforce the point that he was unarmed, he said softly, "Of course, you _could _curse me. But you may well find that I will be of more use to you alive than dead."

Harry was caught off guard. Was Wormtail actually trying to _bargain _with him? "The last time I tried to show you mercy, you took advantage of it," spat Harry angrily. "It's because of you Sirius had to stay in hiding. It's because of you he spent his last 15 years of life either in a prison or as a prisoner in his own house!"

Harry may have been imagining it, but he thought he saw a twinge of guilt on Pettigrew's face at the mention of Sirius' death. But whether it was there or not, at this point, any remorse on Pettigrew's part would be absolutely meaningless. Harry was waiting for the slightest provocation on Pettigrew's part to justify him cursing an unarmed man. He wasn't sure whether Pettigrew was worth becoming a murderer over, but also wasn't sure that he would be able to allow him to walk out of that room alive. Even if they all escorted him to Dumbledore's office, what was to say he wouldn't somehow escape again?

Wormtail looked at Harry, and did something that surprised Harry more than anything else that had happened so far during this encounter. He laughed. Then he said, "I am not looking for your mercy. Even you are not stupid enough to make _that _mistake twice. I simply would have assumed that you would want to hear the message with which I have been sent before you decide what you're going to do to me. But of course, if you feel you are above communicating with my master... Ah, but what a pity that little Lucy Smith and Doug Wilson will have to be the ones to pay."

Harry was practically shaking with rage. Wormtail was actually _taunting _him. He looked around at his four friends to gage whether they had any better of a handle on the situation than he did. But they were all simply standing there, some gaping slightly, holding their wands loosely, staring at Pettigrew. Still, in spite of the cold message of his words, Harry could swear he heard a slight wavering in Wormtail's voice. From looking around at his friends, he could tell that none of them had any desire to take control of the conversation between him and Wormtail, which Harry thought was a bit unfortunate, as he wasn't quite sure how long he could converse with Wormtail without getting mad enough to curse him. But he figured he would have to attempt to carry on if nobody else would.

"Fine, traitor, tell us the message that your master Lord Voldemort has sent you with," said Harry, deliberately using the phrase "Lord Voldemort" for the satisfaction of seeing Pettigrew cringe when he did so.

But Pettigrew managed to stop cringing for long enough to say, "I am to offer a dueling contest. Five of our top agents are guarding the two captive Hogwarts students. The five of you are to come and face off with them. If you survive the encounter, you will be free to collect the captives and come back to Hogwarts, once again the heroes of the school."

"How do I know that you're telling the truth? How do I know that this isn't just another ambush like the one that was set for me in the Department of Mysteries last spring?" asked Harry, calculatingly. But he wasn't going to rely on Wormtail's word alone for the answer to such an important question. He did not even listen to what Wormtail said in response, as he was already focusing all of his conscious mind on the foul man in front of him and all the ways in which he was connected to Harry.

He imagined Scabbers, who had been Ron's pet for three years. He imagined watching that same rat transform in the Shrieking Shack at the end of third year into a man who was meant to have been dead for more than a decade. He focused on how that man had cowered in fear at the feet of two of his former friends. And he focused most of all on what was one of the strongest links one wizard could have with another: He focused on how he had saved Pettigrew's life that night.

He thought about all of this, and he concentrated, looking into Pettigrew's eyes, and suddenly, he was picking up his emotions, as well as slightly garbled versions of his thoughts. It seemed to Harry that this link wasn't quite as strong as the ones that he had made previously, perhaps because Pettigrew was a hostile source whereas Neville, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron had allowed him to read their minds, or maybe it was because he didn't know Pettigrew as well as he knew the others.

But at any rate, he was able to pick up some important thoughts from Pettigrew. His overwhelming emotion was one of doubt. By concentrating hard, Harry could detect that this doubt had something to do with the fact that Pettigrew thought Voldemort was underestimating his opponents again. But the most important thing to Harry was that he could not detect any attempt at deception toward the forefront of Pettigrew's thoughts, and he suspected that he would have done if Pettigrew had been trying to lie to him.

So, Harry reckoned it would be worth accepting the challenge. However, he wasn't entirely sure whether the offer would still stand. Had Wormtail felt Harry break into his thoughts? If so, that might be a deal-breaker.

But Wormtail showed no sign that he understood that his mind had been breached, so Harry said, "Where are you taking us?"

"I see no reason to tell you that in advance," responded Wormtail. "If you don't want to come with me, you can simply let Lucy Smith and Doug Wilson die. If you want that on your conscience..."

"Well... I myself will come. But I can't necessarily speak for my friends. If only certain ones of us go, will the number of duelists for your side be taken down as well?" asked Harry. However, his motivation for asking such a question was not because he had any doubt that his four companions would follow him wherever Wormtail led, but intsead it was a ploy to stall for time. Harry had just remembered that he still had the piece of communicating parchment that Lupin had given him for his birthday. He only hoped that Lupin would have his copy somewhere that he would see it soon. Even after he had broken into Wormtail's mind, Harry could not be sure that he had not been deceived, and so he was not going to go into this alone.

He put his hand into the pocket of his robes, felt around for a quill and the piece of magical parchment, which he carried around with him at all times, and, just as Ginny had done when she was trapped by the death-eaters in the Shrieking Shack months ago, scratched a message into the parchment without using ink.

He wrote, "Lupin, Wormtail is taking us to where 5 D.E.'s are holding Lucy and Doug. Tell the Order. We will tell you where they are when we get there."

He attempted to keep the message short both because of the difficulty of writing a message on a piece of paper in his pocket and because he didn't want to give Wormtail enough time to figure out what he was doing. Harry was quite sure that if Wormtail knew Harry was summoning outside assistance, the entire offer for the duel would be off. And he certainly did not want to add the deaths of Lucy and Doug to the list of deaths that he was partially responsible for.

"Yes, of course, of course," said Wormtail impatiently. He still looked rather intimidated, as if he wasn't quite sure whether Harry would kill him in spite of the fact that he was the only one who could tell them how to find Doug and Lucy. And if Harry were to be perfectly honest with himself, he would have to admit that it was quite difficult for him to resist the urge to do so.

"We'll come with you, Harry," said Neville.

"Yeah, of course we will, mate," said Ron, as Hermione and Ginny nodded fervently.

They didn't seem nearly as nervous as they should have about the prospect, and as Harry glanced around, he noticed that Ginny and Hermione each both had their hands in their pockets as well, apparently having had the same idea as Harry about writing to Lupin.

"I will transform into a rat, and you will be able to follow me in that form across the grounds to where we are going. For obvious reasons, I cannot risk being seen in my human form on Hogwarts grounds," said Wormtail.

"No," said Harry. "How would we know you wouldn't scurry off again like you have before?"

Wormtail looked nervous, and Harry could tell that he would be in a lot of trouble if he failed to successfully bring Harry back to the place where Lucy and Doug were being held. "Fine, I'll tell you where we're going ahead of time," said Wormtail, still very impatient. "We're going to the Shrieking Shack. The place where the captives are being held is only a few streets away from that."

"Fine," said Harry, with little more patience than Wormtail. "And if you're going to have to transform into a rat, one of us will have to carry you. Once we get to the shack, you can transform back, and show us the way, under the cover of darkness so that you won't be seen. I want you to be at this duel, as I think that once I'm done finishing off my opponent, I would like to have a duel with you as well. That is, unless you're too much of a coward."

For a moment, Wormtail looked as if he would object to being carried by Harry, but as he looked around at the five wands still pointed directly at him, he decided to cave to Harry's demands. As Wormtail transformed, Harry reached into his pocket again, and, on the pretense of clearing out the pocket to make room for Wormtail to sit, transferred the magical bit of parchment from one pocket to the other. As he had hoped, he saw that Lupin had wrote back, "Yes, let me know when you get there, and for the love of Merlin, don't let the traitor escape again."

Harry shoved Wormtail the rat forcefully into his pocket and led the way out of the empty classroom as the five students made their way toward the Whomping Willow.

A/N: All right. It's looking like this will be my second to last chapter. I should be able to wrap the story up in one more (or possibly two more) chapter. Looks like I'll finish before the 16th after all. But just barely. Anyway, review if you have a minute.


	28. The Trap

Chapter 28

The Trap

"So... wait a minute," said Harry, once he, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville had made it to within about 10 yards of the Whomping Willow, "how are we going to get the bloody tree to stop swinging at us?"

"Well... Peter always used to do it for the Marauders... do you think we could trust him to do it now?" asked Ron uncertainly.

"Of course not," said Hermione impatiently. "I'll charm a rock to fly over and hit the knot on the tree. That'll stop it for us."

"Good thinking," said Ron admiringly.

Hermione, in the dim light from the moon, seemed to be torn between being impatient at the fact that no one else had apparently thought of this, and being pleased at the compliment. At any rate, she carried out her plan, and seconds later, the group of students were making their way into the space between the roots of the now frozen tree.

"Incidentally, do you think he can hear us when he's in his rat form?" asked Ginny in a half-whisper.

"Yeah... If he couldn't hear things while he's a rat, then he wouldn't've known to be nervous during 3rd year when Sirius was chasing him," said Harry.

"Makes sense," conceded Ginny.

"Hey, er... You all could feel free to fill me in on who this guy is and everything, if you like," said Neville, who sounded a bit confused. So, rather than discuss any bits of strategy that they wouldn't want Wormtail to hear (as Ginny had apparently been planning to do), they instead filled Neville in quickly on the events of third year.

"Oh, wow. No wonder he was afraid you were going to kill him before he had a chance to speak," said Neville in a voice which almost seemed to convey that he himself may not have had so much control over himself. "By the way," he continued, in a hushed voice, "do you think that Bellatrix Lestrange might be one of the death-eaters that is guarding the hostages?"

Harry thought for a moment, then said, "Yeah, I reckon she might be. She's always been considered one of Voldemort's most faithful servants."

"Yeah," said Neville, in a hollow voice. It was not easy to read his expression, considering that the only light in the tunnel to the Shack was coming from the five lit wands of the teenagers, but as he continued, his voice was determined. "If she's there, I want to be the one who dual her."

Harry was on the verge of objecting. He thought that while Neville's sentiment was certainly understandable, it might not be tactically wise to put Neville, who was still not the strongest dueler on their side, against Bellatrix, who was obviously one of the best duelers the Death-Eaters had. She had, after all, gotten Sirius. But then, thinking of that, Harry realized that part of his objection to Neville's offer to take on Bellatrix might have had to do with the fact that Harry himself was thirsty for revenge against her as well. But to be fair, Neville definitely was improving in his dueling skills, and would probably fight harder against Bellatrix than against any other Death-Eater, as the extra reserve of emotion would put extra power behind his spells. So, in the end, Harry nodded grimly, and said "Yeah, Neville, if she's there, you take her." If worse came to worst, and Bellatrix still far outstripped Neville in dualing abilities, Harry could still hope that he would be able to hold her off for long enough that one of the others would finish their duel and come to his aid. "But Neville," continued Harry, "I think it'd be wisest to go for the capture instead of the kill, at least at first. You should probably use the spell that Tonks taught us at the beginning of the year, on the day that letter arrived." Harry was being purposefully cryptic, stating his message in a way that Neville would understand that Harry wanted him to use the Disabling Charm which would prevent Neville and Bellatrix from using any spells which would cause the other bodily harm. He didn't want Wormtail to be able to pick up on this though, because it seemed the Disabling Charm was one not immediately thought of by deatheaters (because they focused on spells that _could_ hurt their opponents), and it was always good to have the extra time between the casting of the spell and the time when the deatheaters figured out what it was doing so that they would only cast ineffective spells.

Neville thought for a moment. He seemed to be battling with himself on a mental level as he responded, "Harry... If you're sure. But I'd rather..."

Harry said, "Yeah, I know. After the battle's over, once she's in custody, we'll be able to deal with her as a prisoner of war. And who knows, now that it's become apparent that Azkaban is not inescapable without dementors, maybe the Ministry will approve the death penalty for cases like this, to prevent prisoners from fighting again."

Harry realized that this was not much of a guarantee, and even if it were, it would not be nearly as satisfying as if Neville would get to avenge his parents personally, but Neville did not argue. As a matter of fact, the rest of the journey in the underground tunnel was carried out in silence. The five teens were each slightly nervous about the upcoming encounter, and each also realized that they could not discuss strategy.

But as they emerged from the floor of the Shack, Harry said, "Look guys, we're going to win this. We're probably the best group of student duelers Hogwarts has ever seen, and we've been practicing constantly. The most practice the Death Eater's probably get using spells on a regular basis is to torture wandless muggles. Their reaction times can't be as good as ours. And just... remember everything Tonks taught us. And think capture rather than kill."

Wormtail was in the process of transforming back as Harry said this line, having been placed onto the floor by a Harry who was having to exercise quite a bit of self-control to keep from stomping on the foul rodent. Harry was slightly wary of continuously stating the "capture rather than kill" bit of their strategy in such plain earshot of Wormtail, but did not figure that this tidbit would actually give Wormtail knowledge of their strategy. He probably would just assume that such a sentiment was quite natural for a group of wizards who the death-eaters probably considered too cowardly to use dark magic. Harry could not help but ponder how ironic it was for Wormtail to regard anyone else as cowardly.

In the moonlight coming in from one of the shack's broken windows, Harry could see his companions nodding as he finished his speech. He could even detect slight grins on Ron and Ginny's faces, and he knew that his pre-deatheater-dualing speech was probably rather reminiscent of his pre-quidditch-match speeches from earlier that year.

He returned the grin as Wormtail stood up and said gruffly, "Follow me."

The group of six people walked in silence until they reached a bit of woods surrounding Hogsmeade, about 50 yards behind the Shack (which was on the outskirts of town in the first place.) They travelled for a few yards into the forest, before coming to a clearing. There, they saw dark forms who were obviously the five death-eaters.

Harry quickly reached into his pocket to find his bit of magic parchment, and before he came into easy sight range of the death-eaters, scrawled a quick: "In forest behind Shrieking Shack" to Lupin, hoping this would be enough to allow him to find the place.

As they continued toward the dark forms, Harry became aware that there were more than five of them there. But then, he considered that two of the forms would be those of Lucy Smith and Doug Wilson. Still, as he got even closer, he noticed that there were at least a dozen figures in the clearing, and more seemed to be emerging from the forest.

Harry stopped walking, and his companions stayed with him, just at the edge of the clearing, watching the figures of the death-eaters. As they stood there, the voice of Lucius Malfoy cut through the silence. "Thinking of running away, are you?" he asked cooly. "We were afraid that you might. That's why we have the extra guards here. There are a fourteen of us here, in all, some are already behind you, blocking your exit. But don't worry. We will be true to our word. Only one of us will duel each of you at a time. And once we win, all of you but Harry shall be killed. Harry will be taken to our most powerful Lord. Although he did not find it prudent to venture so near to Hogsmeade at a time when the whole Wizarding World is now on the look-out for him, he still wants to be the one to finish Harry off. Oh, and in case you're thinking of apparating, if you've been learning illegally ahead of time as any self-respecting Slytherin sixth year would have done, you should know that we've put up anti-apparation charms up all around the forest, as far into the village as slightly beyond the Shack through which you traveled."

Harry was quickly calculating the situation, and was, of course, coming to the conclusion that things were not going quite the way he had planned. If any one of the students won their duel, that would no doubt be enough provocation to cause the other Death Eaters to jump into the fray. And with the anti-apparation charms up, it would take Lupin longer than it otherwise would have to find the clearing. Wormtail, by this point, had made his way into the center of the clearing, rejoining the other death-eaters, shaking slightly.

To Harry's great surprise, Wormtail actually spoke to Lucius Malfoy, "But, I thought the Great Lord had instructed us to have only five of our agents here."

"That's what he instructed _you_," said Malfoy coolly. "He had a hunch that Potter might have been cultivating skills in Legilimancy. And if he broke into your mind, it would not have done to have him previously informed that he was walking into a trap, would it?"

"Well, we've got no choice but to stand and fight," said Harry, quietly, so that only his friends could hear. "But let's arrange ourselves in a kind of circle so that we can guarantee that no one will sneak up from behind all of us."

It turned out that it had been quite foolish of Harry and Neville to assume that they would be able to pick their own dueling partners. Five death-eaters wearing hoods so that their identities were obscured formed a circle around Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville.

Harry, however, knew that it was Lucius whom he would be dualing, as he spoke once again before the dual began in earnest. "Of course, in a dual of this nature, no spells are restricted. You are limited only by your natural ability. Which is, of course, why the five of you stand no chance. I would count to three to signal when we are to begin our duel, but I'm afraid that you may jump the gun in your quite understandable panic. So I shall begin- expelliarmus!" Lucius said in the same breath.

However, at that, all the other death-eaters on the outside of the circle shouted expelliarmus as well, and the five students hit the ground as one solid mass, causing the spells to soar above their heads, one managing to cause a tree on the edge of the clearing to lose several branches, but causing no more damage than that.

As the Death Eaters were adjusting their aims for a second attempt, Harry propped himself up on one arm and shouted "Debilitatus!" while pointing his wand at the dark form that was barely discernible in the light of the half-moon.

Lucius, who had apparently not even remembered this spell from the last time Harry had used it on him, laughed a little bit before yelling "Cruciatus!" However, no beam of light broke from his wand to signify that the spell had been cast. Capitalizing on Malfoy's temporary confusion, Harry yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" Malfoy, who had been busy muttering "Cruciatus," again, apparently under the impression that a mispronunciation had been to blame for his malfunctioning wand, was hit with the full force of the spell. His body seized up into paralysis.

In the meantime, his fellow-students had all yelled "Debilitatus" as well.

At this point, the death-eaters seemed to realize at least that they would be unable to use the Cruciatus Curse. This did not, however, stop the one who was battling Hermione from making a slashing motion with his wand, much like the one that had injured Hermione in the Ministry of Magic the previous year.

However, this time, it did nothing, and in the time it had taken him to utter the spell, Hermione countered with a "Petrificus Totalus!" of her own, ably subduing her own death-eater. Already, two death-eaters were down, and Harry felt a sort of empty satisfaction at the knowledge that if this had been a fair fight, there would be almost no doubt that they would have come out victorious. However, at that moment, one of the death-eaters who had not even originally been in the dual came forward to replace the man who had seized up because of Hermione's spell, just as Ron's opponent, apparently inspired by Harry's and Hermione's success with the spell, said, "Petrificus Totalus!"

Ron dodged the spell, but it instead hit Neville, who had just managed to disarm his opponent, who was now scrambling around looking for his wand in the dimly-lit clearning.

As Ron quickly muttered "Finite-Incantatem" while pointing his wand over his shoulder to bring Neville back to his full-faculties, Harry, who had managed to spot the death-eaters' wand before he recovered it, used the wand-breaking spell that Tonks had taught them, and caused it to erupt into a small fire. It was quite a different effect than had been produced when one of Fred and George's fake wands were hit with the incantation, and must have been caused by the release of the stored magical power within the wands. Still, it was just as satisfying as it would have been if the wand had been turned into a rubber chicken.

Harry mentally sized up the odds again as more death-eaters joined the fray to make up for their disabled comrades. There were three deatheaters incapacitated so far, out of an original 14, including some who might still be keeping guard elsewhere in the forest. So that meant there were only 11 more potential enemies, which was better odds than had existed in the beginning of the dual. However, it seemed that the Death Eaters had just decided to forgo any semblance of restraint, as it now seemed that all eleven of the death-eaters were now surrounding Harry, Ron, Hemione, Ginny, and Neville, their wands poised menancingly, but not yet striking.

Harry, who had been taking this opportunity yell "Debilitatus!" in all conceivable directions," was silenced by the calm voice of Bellatrix Lestrange, which said, "Stop that, boy, or we'll paralyze you all. We're going to have a nice little chat before we finish you off."

Although Harry did not at all like being told how things were going to be by the woman who had killed his godfather, he reckoned that he should shut up and listen while she stated her piece, considering that there was still the chance that Lupin could arrive with help at any moment. Even if he couldn't apparate into the forest because of the charms that Malfoy had apparently put up, he could apparate into another part of Hogsmeade and make the trip from there. Harry only wondered what was taking him so long.

"In fact, I think we'll paralyze you anyway," continued Bellatrix coolly. She pointed her wand at Harry, who yelled, "Run!"

The five of them all attempted to scatter, but were stopped by the nearly one dozen spells which had been fired from all over the clearing. Of course, in the cross-fire, a couple of the death-eaters were paralyzed as well, but it was a small price for them to pay considering that there was now no one to oppose them. In fact, Bellatrix allowed a total of five of her comrades to remain paralyzed as she continued to talk.

"Now, young Mr. Potter, you shall enjoy the privilege of watching each of your friends be tortured to insanity with the Cruciatus Curse before you are taken to the lair of our most powerful Dark Lord. Wormtail, kindly turn the Potter boy around so that he has a better view of his friends' demise."

Wormtail slinked forward from the spot in the circle where he had been held. But he seemed to be shaking with fear as he began turning Harry's body around so that his head would be facing into the circle of his friends. Harry could not understand why, until Wormtail muttered, "Kill me before letting them capture me," and then quickly muttered, "Finite Incatatem."

Harry at once sprang into action, reversing the incantation on Hermione and Ginny as well before Lestrange even seemed to be able to wrap her mind around what had just happened.

Now that Wormtail was now, to Harry's own particular confusion, fighting against the death-eaters as well, there were currently 7 able-bodied death-eaters (not counting one who was currently running around attempting to pry a wand out of the hands of one of his paralyzed comrades to replace his own broken wand) against 6 able-bodied (Hermione and Ginny having unparalyzed Ron and Neville) Gryffindors, present as well as past.

In sheer frustration and confusion, two of the death-eaters shouted "Avada Kedavra," into the circle. Luckily, these were two whose wands had previously been disabled. Wormtail, it turn, yelled "Avada Kedavra!' back at one of them. His wand worked properly, and one death-eater lie dead.

Lestrange did not seem to be too fond of her odds in an even match, and therefore turned to her left and quickly un-petrified Lucius Malfoy.

The wandless death-eater was able to recover the wand from the limp hand of his recently deceased comrade, and quickly yelled "Petrificus Totalus!" at Wormtail.

Ginny and Hermione were busy shouting Debilitatus at everyone they could see, petrified or not.

Harry managed to petrify Malfoy once again, although he was simultaneously petrified by Lestrange. The four remaining Gryffindors, now facing seven opponents, never really stood a chance.

Even as they attempted to disarm, disable, or petrify their opponents, each of them was petrified in turn by the more numerous death-eaters. Fortunately, it seemed that Hermione and Ginny had been wise in aiming to disable wands rather than people, considering that it now seemed that none of the Death-Eaters currently standing had the ability to actually curse them.

"Fine then," said Lestrange in a voice of brisk irritation. She was obvioulsy irritated because, although she seemed to have won the battle, she was robbed of the satisfaction of torturing and killing any of her opponents. "We shall simply have to take all of you in to our master. He will deal with each of you in turn. He will be especially delighted to torture the newly discovered traitor in our midst. I had always known Pettigrew to be a fool, but I had never dreamed he would be this much of one. At any rate, I shall prepare a portkey to our master's headquarters while anybody else standing should see to undoing these petrification spells. I'm sure all of us would like to be able to travel to headquarters to see these six fools dealt with."

However, it seemed that Lestrange would have been better occupied simply creating the portkey rather than going into a long monologue about it, because at that moment, a clatter of snapping twigs was enough to tell Harry that Lupin had just arrived with reinforcements.

This indeed turned out to be the case, and Lupin and Tonks made their way into the clearing.

Lestrange swore. The other death-eaters went about de-petrifying their comrades.

The five new arrivals quickly surveyed the scene. Lupin and Tonks quickly went about de-petrifying the students. When Lupin reached Wormtail, he hestitated for a moment. "What happened here?" he asked Harry.

"I'm not quite sure," said Harry truthfully. "He seems to be on our side though, he's already killed one of them. Where's Dumbledore?" asked Harry, remembering how he had been such a vital asset at the Ministry during the previous June.

"He's on his way. The anti-apparation charms slowed him down. For obvious reasons, he cannot run quite as fast as some of us, being well over 100 years old," said Lupin. Then, with a slightly doubtful face, he muttered "Finite Incantatem!" at Wormtail.

There were now 12 deatheaters against 8 opponents. Although the odds were less than even, it quite seemed that the eight of them would be quite able to remain standing until Dumbledore arrived. No battle-spells had yet been uttered, as each side had been busy unpetrifying its troops and, in the case of the two who had just run here, attempting to catch their breath and survey the situation.

Harry quickly explained, "The deatheaters' wands are all disabled, and four minutes ago, Wormtail unpetrified me when it looked like we'd had it."

Wormtail, who still seemed to be in rather a state of shock at his own actions, babbled, "They were about to kill off his friends, one by one. And I kept thinking about how that was what the Dark Lord did to me... Because you really had been my friends, before I sold Lily and James out. I was a coward. They were going to take Harry and let the Dark Lord kill him. And he had saved my life... I couldn't let them do it. Just promise you won't let them take me alive."

The death-eaters were once again in battle formation. They seemed to realize that they were at a tactical disadvantage as they were unable to use any unforgivable curses, so they didn't seem to be too anxious to start the battle once again.

However, Lucius Malfoy shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!" toward Lupin, and the battle had started again.

As a flurry of spells erupted all around, Lestrange, who was facing Wormtail, shouted, "Expelliarmus!" Wormtail was too slow to respond. Wherever his loyalties lie, he had never been a great duelist. His wand fell to the ground.

Lestrange shouted "Accio wand!" Wormtail's wand flew into her hand. She said, "Surely, under the circumstances, my Lord will forgive me if I deprive him of the pleasure of killing Potter personally. Avada Kedavra!"

Harry, who had been busy deflecting a petrifying curse sent at him by another death-eater, was unable to disable Wormtail's wand. A flash of green light erupted from the wand. Harry had a split second in which he thought he was going to die, before Wormtail defied logic for the second time that night, jumping in front of Harry.

As he crumpled to the ground, Harry shouted, "Debilitatus!"

At that moment, Dumbledore emerged, panting slightly, from the woods behind the clearing. Lestrange saw him, and hurriedly shouting, "Retreat!" turned to run.

Neville, however, took careful aim with his wand at her retreating form and shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!" Lestrange's running form fell to the ground, frozen in mid-stride.

They managed to round up no less than six more of the retreating death-eaters, although the others apparently made it far enough to be outside of the anti-apparation charms and disappeared.

In the aftermath of the battle, Harry stood with Lupin, surveying the motionless form of Peter Pettigrew.

Lupin looked at Harry, then said thoughtfully, "Are you sorry he's dead?"

Harry said, "I... I don't know. I was wondering whether I wouldn't kill him myself if I had the chance, but I never expected him to die saving me."

"Yes... that was quite unexpected," said Lupin.

Dumbledore, who was nearby, said, "I expected something like this might happen eventually. I said years ago that Voldemort would one day regret having a Wizard who owed his life to Harry Potter in his service. It seems tonight, his old loyalties took hold again. I often wondered what the Sorting Hat saw in young Peter Pettigrew's mind that made it put him in Gryffindor. I can't help but think that it must have saw potential for something like this in Peter. Of course, once he had gone back to his original loyalties, I must say, dying was the easy part for him. After admitting to such a grave error of ways, it would have been difficult indeed for him to live with himself under the best of conditions, not to mention what would have happened to him if Voldemort ever caught him. In fact, I think Lestrange did him quite a favor in finishing him off."

"Still, I'm quite surpsised that he re-evaluated his loyalties tonight," said Lupin. "He may have lived much of his life as a rat, but he died a man."

Doug Wilson and Lucy Smith were found on the edge of the clearing, in a spot removed from where the battle had been taking place. When Tonks shouted that she had found them, Harry was quite surprised until he remembered that that was the reason they had come here n the first place.

Doug and Lucy were released from the Petrification spell that had been holding them captive, and they accompanied the rest of them back to the Shrieking Shack.

When the battle took place, the school had already been in the midst of exams, and the last week of the term passed by in a bit of a haze for Harry. He was still in shock over the sudden turn of Wormtail's loyalties, and the fact that he now, in some way owed his life partially toward Wormtail.

When he voiced this concern to Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny one morning in the Great Hall, Ginny actually scoffed, and said, "Yeah, but if it wasn't for him, you'd have your parents and your godfather alive, and wouldn't have been lured into that forest in the first place."

Harry reckoned this was quite true, but still couldn't help but think of Wormtail's death with mixed emotions. The entire concept of him sitting in school only hours after his life had almost ended in a wizarding battle also seemed rather surreal to him, making it hard for him to put his full effort into his remaining exams. He was quite glad that these particular exams were not as important as the N.E.W.T's or the O.W.L.'s and rather hoped that Ginny was making out better than he was.

The prisoners from that night in the forest, including Bellatrix Lestrange as well as Lucius Malfoy, were being kept under tight security awaiting a trial. Each of those who had went to the forest that night were informed that they would be called to attend the trial early that summer break, at which sentences would be determined. In the meantime, Harry would have to go back to his aunt and uncle's house, but he would be allowed to stay with the Weasleys once the trial was over.

As the Hogwarts' Express made its way back toward London, Harry reflected back on the past year between games of Exploding Snap. He was glad for the fact that he seemed to be getting much better at dueling, as well as Occlumency and Legilimancy (lessons for which Dumbledore promised would continue during the next term). He quite suspected that soon, he would be able to face Lord Voldemort and win. But he was also glad for the fact that that probably would not occur for at least a little while, and that in the mean-time he could look forward to his shortest stay yet at Privet Drive, followed by a summer with the Weasleys.

As he kissed Ginny good-bye at King's Cross, he promised to write regularly, and she assured him that she would see him soon. Harry was feeling very good about the idea of almost an entire summer spent without classes and in the company of the Weasleys. He was in such a good mood as he accompanied the Dursleys back to their car that he did not even care when Uncle Vernon muttered something about, "Those type of people," as he began to drive away.

A/N: Er... Right. So, kind of a long chapter. There was more stuff than I had realized that I wanted to put in before ending it, I guess. But, it's done now... 3 days before Book 6 comes out. So, I'm hoping that this story has helped keep at least a few people occupied over this seemingly endless wait for Half-Blood Prince, and I hope you liked how I ended it. Also, I might as well point out that there will be no sequel to this story, per se, but I will probably write a seventh year fic once whatever happens in the sixth book has time to sink into my head. And in order to make that story (as well as my writing style in general) better, I would appreciate any comments on this chapter or the story as a whole, in the form of reviews. Positive or negative reviews would be helpful, although I've got to say that if all I get are reviews complaining about how unrealistic it is for Pettigrew to turn good or something, I'll be slightly annoyed. Oh well, at any rate, thanks for reading!


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